04 Sep LEGAL CHALLENGE TO EXTEND REVIEW WATT FILES AND CALL FOR A PUBLIC INQUIRY
Colin Armstrong, whose mother, Ruth was patient of Dr Michael Watt, has today, issued legal proceedings against the Department of Health via his solicitors, KRW LAW.
Mr Armstrong intends to challenge, by way of an application for Judicial Review, the decision of the Department of Health to extend the Expert Panel Review of Deceased Patients Records to be conducted by the RQIA and RCP. Mr Armstrong contends that the DOH decision to extend the file review of Watt’s patients records is unreasonable and irrational because it only covers a minimal umber of records and the initial report of the Review published in 2022 was of sufficient indication to merit establishing a statutory-public inquiry into Watt’s clinical practice, both public and private.
Mr Armstrong says that the conclusions and recommendations of the Independent Neurological Inquiry and those of the RQIA and RCP Review have raised public concerns which must be addressed by a statutory public inquiry in the same way as that proceeding in relation to Lucy Letby. He is sympathetic to all relative of patients of Watt and those who survived his treatment but questions the reasonableness of further file reviews being conducted.
He said ‘Whilst it is is clear that Watt was clinically negligent for many years – having been removed from the medical register – and the PSNI are now investigating the possibility of his criminality – my concern, which I believe is shared by the public – is how he managed to get away with it for so long.
How can the catastrophic failures of those systems and institutions which were responsible for regulating and governing his practice have been allowed to happen and who was responsible and, most importantly, how can this be prevented in the future to protect and save the lives of those who are most vulnerable when in need of clinical treatment?’
Mr Armstrong is advocating for a statutory-public inquiry into all the issues arising from the patient recall in a similar way to the Thirlwall Inquiry into events at the Countess of Chester Hospital where Lucy Letby was employed.
He has been told by the Health and Safety Executive NI that it will not investigate corporate criminal liability which may have occurred during Watt’s clinical career at the BHSCT or in private practice. Mr Armstrong says that an inquiry could be established parallel to discrete forms of investigation including by the police or a coroner as these may not look at systemic and thematic institutional failures.”