16. Submission by Mr Hyam, KC

Mr Hyam: No apology necessary.

My Lady, I appear on behalf of a group of Welsh health bodies. I am instructed by Sarah Watt of NWSSP Legal and Risk. I just have four short observations, if I may.

First, we are very grateful for our designation as a group of Welsh health bodies. We comprise bodies responsible for the majority of primary care, hospital services and other healthcare services in Wales and, to that end, we hope to be able to give significant assistance to the Inquiry.

Secondly, to underline a point already made, that the Welsh Health Boards are responsible for the management and delivery of the Health Service in Wales and act as both commissioner and provider of services, and with a consequent responsibility for the health of their local populations under the NHS Wales Act. These are important structural differences between the NHS in Wales and in England.

Third, that we would endorse NHS England’s observation made at paragraph 41 of their written submission to the effect that there should be early identification of issues, but also that there should be early identification of how the Inquiry will deal with those issues across the four nations. We agree that the options may be limited to two, either sequentially nation-by-nation or as groups of issues. We do not, like NHS England, adopt a particular position but if a grouping of issues is what the route that the Inquiry chooses to go down, the sooner that grouping of issues can be identified the better because it should inform the Rule 9 requests that are made to the various health bodies across the four nations, so that the information provided by them can be usefully digested and made most useful to the Inquiry.

Finally, I just conclude by saying we look forward to assisting the Inquiry with its important work. We hope we can provide significant assistance to it and, consistently with NHS values, working together with the Inquiry for the benefit of patients. Thank you very much.

Lady Hallett: Thank you very much indeed, Mr Hyam.

Ms Carey, do you have any closing remarks you wish to make?