Catalogue description Independent Inquiry into the issues arising from the case of Dr Harold Shipman (The Shipman Inquiry): Official Archived Website

Harold Fredrick Shipman was convicted at Preston Crown Court on 31 January 2000 of the murder of fifteen of his patients while he was a General Practitioner at Market Street, Hyde, near Manchester, and of one count of forging a will. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. Police have also investigated allegations that he may have murdered many more patients while he was a GP in Hyde and Todmorden.

On 1 February 2000, the Secretary of State for Health announced that an independent private inquiry would take place to establish what changes to current systems should be made in order to safeguard patients in the future. Although it would be held in private its report would be made public. The private inquiry, under the chairmanship of Lord Laming of Tewin, began work on 10 March and was charged with reporting its findings and recommendations to the Secretary of State for Health and the Home Secretary by September 2000. Many of the families and sections of the British media sought a Judicial Review in the High Court, which found in their favour and recommended that the Secretary of State for Health reconsider his decision that the Inquiry should be held in private.

In September 2000, the Secretary of State for Health announced that the Inquiry would be held in public under the terms of the Tribunals of Inquiry (Evidence) Act 1921. Both Houses of Parliament ratified this decision in January 2001. Dame Janet Smith DBE, a High Court judge, was appointed Chairman of The Shipman Inquiry and the work of the independent public inquiry began in February 2001.

Its Terms of Reference were:

• After receiving the existing evidence and hearing such further evidence as necessary, to consider the extent of Harold Shipman's unlawful activities;
• To enquire into the actions of the statutory bodies, authorities, other organisations and responsible individuals concerned in the procedures and investigations which followed the deaths of those of Harold Shipman's patients who died in unlawful or suspicious circumstances;
• By reference to the case of Harold Shipman to enquire into the performance of the functions of those statutory bodies, authorities, other organisations and individuals with responsibility for monitoring primary care provision and the use of controlled drugs;
• and following those enquiries, to recommend what steps, if any, should be taken to protect patients in the future, and to report its findings to the Secretary of State for the Home Department and to the Secretary of State for Health.

The public hearings into Phase 1 began on 20 June 2001. The public hearings into Phase 2 began on 7 May 2002. The Inquiry's First Report was published on 19 July 2002.

The Sixth and Final Report was published on 27 January 2005. Dame Janet Smith's overall conclusion in this report was that Shipman killed about 250 patients between 1971 and 1998, of whom the Inquiry was able positively to identify 218.

Harold Shipman was found hanged in his prison cell at Wakefield Prison in January 2004.