Alarm over delays on inquests in the West Midlands as grieving families wait for over a year for hearings

One coroner in the West Midlands says he is alarmed at the delays and has appealed for extra money to speed up the process of inquests.

Nationally, the total number of cases not concluded within 12 months has grown from 4,812 to 6,149.

Coroners have a judicial duty to hear all cases put before them, but are funded by councils, many of whom are facing a financial crisis.

Staffordshire coroner Andrew Barkley has pleaded for an extra £210,000 to pay for an extra coroner and staff to help him deal with more cases.

His area includes a number of prisons such as Featherstone, Oakwoods and Brinsford near Wolverhampton. He says his case load currently includes 31 prison deaths, at least half of which will require a jury inquest, meaning more than 150 days of sittings.

He added: “We’re also dealing with far more elderly patients, far more technical medical deaths, we’re dealing with families who are far less accepting of a service, which may have been acceptable five or 10 years ago. It’s not unusual now to walk into an inquest that was previously done in half-an-hour to an hour, and that has now turned into a two day hearing.”

Mr Barkley said that while the increase in inquest complexity was a national trend, Staffordshire was particularly affected by the issue of deaths in custody, with eight prisons in the county, as well as the presence of the Royal Stoke University Hospital, a regional trauma centre.

He said: “The number of cases being referred in hasn’t radically changed.

“But what has changed beyond recognition is the sheer complexity we’re dealing with.

The problems have been described as “unacceptable” by outgoing chief coroner judge Thomas Teague KC. The judge has spoken of a “fundamental problem of resourcing within the coroner service” which impacts on coroners and bereaved families who need answers.

We need a £210,000 funding boost - coroner

A coroner has asked for a £210,000 funding boost in order to tackle a record number of bereaved families waiting a year or more to find out why their loved ones died.