The ABN responds to the Belfast NHS Trust ‘Independent Neurology Inquiry’

The establishment of an Independent Inquiry was announced by the Permanent Secretary of the Department of Health of Northern Ireland in May 2018.  The Minister for Health, Robin Swann, converted the Independent Neurology Inquiry to a Statutory Public Inquiry in December 2020. 

The Inquiry report, led by Mr Brett Lockhart QC and Prof Hugo Mascie-Taylor, was published on June 21 2022 and focused on the response and action of the Belfast Trust to address concerns  regarding the practice of consultant neurologist Dr Michael Watt, which ultimately led to the largest ever recall of patients.  As the professional body for neurologists in the British Isles, we were saddened to read the Public Inquiry report and the experiences of patients and their families.

We appreciate the detailed work of the Inquiry team to produce the report, which extends to over 1000 pages with 76 recommendations. There are many lessons from the report which will be important in preventing similar events occurring in the future. A key finding was the issue of consultants working alone, potentially allowing divergent practice, which is relevant to all medical specialties.

The ABN is committed to providing people with neurological conditions with safe and effective care. We support our members in developing safer working practices/environments through continuing professional development, appraisal and sharing best practice, which includes avoiding working in isolation. 

We work closely with the Neurological Alliance, patient representative charities, and the General Medical Council, NHS, Department and Health and the Royal College of Physicians through our committee structure, with around 100 neurologists contributing to improve what we all do. We must learn from the findings of the inquiry to drive this work and to avoid people with neurological, and indeed all medical conditions, being put in a similar situation.

About the ABN

• The ABN is the professional body for neurologists in the British Isles
• We are led by a team of around100 neurologists who sit on our committees and advisory groups
• We support our 1700 members by:
  • Inputting into over 100 clinical guidelines, standards and consultations annually 
  • Organising two annual best practice sharing events for 1000 delegates a year 
  • Offering the Practical Neurology Journal – which features a wide range of article types, including reviews, case-based articles and How-To papers, all designed to help neurologists improve their practice. 
  • Managing and part-funding the ABN clinical research fellowship programme