Witnesses will be forced to give evidence at the inquiry into how Lucy Letby was able to murder seven babies, the health secretary announced yesterday, in a move welcomed by victims' families.
Steve Barclay said the inquiry would be put on a statutory footing after mounting criticism that it lacked the necessary powers to compel people to give testimony under oath or force the disclosure of documents.
Lawyers for the victims' families argued it was important that former and current staff of the Countess of Chester hospital trust, where Letby worked as a neonatal nurse, could be forced to appear.
Letby became only the third woman alive to be handed a wholelife jail term when she was sentenced on 21 August for murdering seven babies and trying to kill another six.
Ministers initially insisted that the inquiry should be non-statutory - meaning witnesses could decline to give evidence- so that it could reach its conclusions more quickly.
The inquiry is expected to cover the broader context of events at the trust, including the handling of concerns raised by some doctors in the years leading up to her arrest.
Governance procedures and the measures undertaken by regulators and the wider NHS are also likely to be scrutinised.
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