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"Stimulating,
interactive, challenging"
Charge
Nurse |
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"Tremendous
impact.
I am now more knowledgeable of the issues raised"
Ward Manager |
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"Excellent,
has given information that will radically change my practice"
Criminal
Justice Mental Health Liaison Nurse |
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| salisbury
case, june 2004 |
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| Plea
for national guidance on witness training |
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The
directors of InPractice Training today
(Wednesday) called for national guidance
on witness training following the trial
at Chester Crown Court of Barbara Salisbury.
The nurse, who was employed by Mid Cheshire
Hospitals NHS Trust, was found guilty
of attempting to murder two of the patients
in her care and sentenced to five years.
The trial had been halted for four days
following defence counsel’s submission
that witnesses had been professionally
trained by InPractice to give evidence
and that this was an abuse of process.
The defence also argued that the witnesses
who had been trained should be excluded
from giving evidence as it would have
an unfair effect upon proceedings.
After
hearing legal debate, the judge Mr Justice
Pitchford, ruled that the case should
proceed and that the witnesses who had
been trained could continue to give
evidence as they had not discussed the
case before the court. There is no reported
case that has dealt with this type of
issue before although such courses have
been run for many years.
There is very little law on the issue
of
witness preparation. In a nutshell the
law is that a witness should never be
rehearsed in their evidence nor coached.
In a written judgement, issued after
the end of the trial, Mr Justice Pitchford
said: "witnesses would have undergone
a process of familiarisation with the
pitfalls of giving evidence and were
instructed how best to prepare for the
ordeal. This, it seems to me, was an
exercise any witness would be entitled
to enjoy were it available."
Mr Justice Pitchford added: "I
do not accept that this training was
capable
of converting a lying but incompetent
witness into a lying but impressive
witness.
"What they would have received
was knowledge of the process involved.
It was lack of knowledge and understanding,
which created demand for support in
the first place. Acquisition of knowledge
and understanding has probably prepared
them better for the
experience of giving evidence.
"They will be better able to give
sequential and coherent account. None
of this gives them an unfair advantage
over another witness."
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Two
of the directors of InPractice, Kate
Hill and Joanne Haswell, now want clear
national guidelines on witness training.
They feel that with the increase in
litigation, National Health Service
trusts must feel confident about supporting
their staff when they are called upon
to
give evidence.
Kate Hill said: "Mr Justice Pitchford,
in his judgment, remarked upon the difference
between the process of familiarisation
with the task of giving evidence coherently
and the orchestration of the evidence
to be given. The second, he said, was
objectionable the first he said is not.
We have welcomed the opportunity to
have our training closely scrutinised
and found to be lawful by the court.
However, it would seem sensible to have
a nationally agreed approach"
Joanne Haswell added: "Litigation
against the health service is such that
educating health professionals in written
and oral evidence should be part of
their continuing professional education."
For further information contact Tom
Cassidy or Ramsay Smith at
0207 397 8458 or 0141 226 3700
InPractice is the leading medico-legal
training company in the UK. Formed three
years ago by Kate Hill and Joanne Haswell,
InPractice is a subsidiary company of
the law firm RadcliffesLeBrasseur.
InPractice provides interactive and
practical training to all sectors of
the health service on issues such as
informed consent, documentation, human
rights, statement writing and root cause
analysis. For more information please
see www.inpracticetraining.com
Kate Hill is Managing Director of InPractice
and an Associate in the health team
at RadcliffesLeBrasseur. Kate has been
advising and training for the health
service for over 10 years, specialising
in mental health and human rights.
Joanne Haswell is a Director of InPractice
and a non-practising Barrister. Joanne
has been involved in developing legal
training for health professionals for
over five years. 23 June 2004
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