The Isle of Wight Coroner has set out how she is looking to improve the service — with more staff and alternative facilities — after new figures revealed the strain the service is under.
In 2021, while 86 per cent more inquests were concluded than 2020, they took, on average, 40 per cent longer to process.
The figures from the Ministry of Justice, show in 2021, 196 inquests were concluded with an average processing time of 56 weeks.
In 2020, during the height of the Covid pandemic, 105 inquests were concluded at an average processing time of 40 weeks.
Caroline Sumeray, the Island’s coroner, reacting to the figures, said much has changed in the ten years she has been in the role, with processes modernised and radical changes significantly affecting the workload in the Coroner’s Office.
She said the Isle of Wight Council has endeavoured to recruit additional staff to support the service and it is hoped an Assistant Coroner would be appointed so she could run two courts to hear outstanding inquests.
One problem prolonging cases is the lack of dedicated court facilities for the Coroner with the Isle of Wight Council having to hire space in the Isle of Wight Combined Court building in Quay Street.
During the Covid pandemic, Mrs Sumeray said over a year of sitting time was lost due to the need for the Coroner to sit in court for hearings.
When inquests returned in person, Mrs Sumeray said she was cautious about risking the health of her staff due to the courtroom the Coroner’s Office usually use, which she described as small, windowless and largely unventilated.
Her complaints about the unbearable heat in the courtroom and poor ventilation have not been addressed.
In that period, Mrs Sumeray said she had to make the difficult decision to prioritise inquests according to their complexity.
Those considered less complex became the priority, she said, as more complex cases tend to involve multiple live witnesses, like clinicians who were still needed fighting the pandemic.
It was not possible or desirable, Mrs Sumeray said, to get the large number of people required in those cases in the courtroom due to restrictions imposed at the height of the pandemic.
Mrs Sumerary also said for larger hearings, with more interested persons, lawyers and witnesses, difficulties and limitations with Microsoft Teams made it unmanageable for her.
In some instances, a jury is required in an inquest but the only court suitable to hold such cases is the Isle of Wight Crown Court, which Mrs Sumary has to request permission to sit in.
However, as the courtroom is owned by HMCTS they are able to cancel the coroner’s bookings, which had happened several times this year, Mrs Sumeray said.
Now due to the backlog of criminal trials, Mrs Sumeray has been told there is no time available for her in the Crown Court.
With the Isle of Wight Council, she is investigating possible alternative venues with the appropriate resources needed for jury inquests.
The pressures the Isle of Wight NHS Trust has faced in the last four years — being under special measures — were also referenced by Mrs Sumeray as something which significantly increased referrals and workload for the Coroner’s Office.
For inquests held during the pandemic, Mrs Sumeray said she had given the trust a period of grace where clinicians could focus on treating patients, covering sick leave and trying to recover.
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