Annex A > Chapter 1 - The Background to and Conduct of the Public Inquiry > The Terms of Reference > The Expert Group
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The Expert Group
66 It was considered crucial for the Inquiry to hear expert advice on a variety of issues, including medical and nursing care. It was therefore decided that the Inquiry would appoint a group of experts of its own to provide this advice, rather than have to rely on experts commissioned by the various participants. [24] The approach was intended to move away from the adversarial model, in which experts tended to represent `parties', and to ensure that the Inquiry had access to a wide range of impartial advice.
67 As expert advisors to the Inquiry, members of the Expert Group could, as with all other witnesses, only be called to give evidence by the Inquiry itself. They were asked to assist the Inquiry in a number of ways:
- by providing written opinions, which were subsequently published by the Inquiry;
- by providing background information and briefing to the legal team to assist them in preparing for the oral hearings; and
- by attending the hearings, either to give evidence themselves or to assist Inquiry Counsel when a witness was giving oral evidence.
68 In addition, the members of the Expert Group were asked to make themselves available to give occasional seminars to the BHCAG and BSSG, in order to assist them in understanding the issues and preparing their contributions to the Inquiry.
69 Other organisations with a direct interest in the Inquiry were also free to seek advice from the Expert Group. However, in keeping with the non-adversarial approach, all such requests were made via the Secretariat who arranged meetings and forwarded requests for information.
70 The experts included paediatric cardiac surgeons, paediatric cardiologists, anaesthetists, paediatric intensive care nurses, paediatric nurses, pathologists, statisticians, health service managers and accountants. Because so many members of the Expert Group were also in full-time practice, the Inquiry recognised the need to have a large enough pool of experts to call upon so as not to make unreasonable demands upon the time of a small group of people.
71 A large number of the clinical members of the Expert Group assisted with the Clinical Case Note Review (CCNR). [25]
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Footnotes
[24] A list of the members of the Expert Group and a full account of the purpose of the Group is in Annex B