Q&A on Shipman inquiry

Margaret Lowrie

LONDON, England (CNN) -- CNN Correspondent Margaret Lowrie reported on the opening day of the public inquiry into the deaths of hundreds of patients of convicted killer and former general practitioner Harold Shipman.

Q: What happened today?

LOWRIE: What we saw today was the beginning of what promises to be a lengthy process. It is an independent public inquiry chaired by High Court Judge Dame Janet Smith. These hearings will examine the deaths of some 459 patients of former general practitioner Harold Shipman. These deaths took place in the Greater Manchester area and in West Yorkshire between 1974 and 1998, when he was arrested. But is important to stress that inquiry officials think it unlikely there will be cause for suspicion in a large number of these cases.

Q: What is the inquiry trying to find out?

LOWRIE: The inquiry will take place over a two-year period and conducted in three phases. the first phase is expected to last until the end of this year -- it will hear evidence from the counsel for the inquiry and from relatives from known victims and from suspected victims.

That first phase will produce an interim report which will establish once and for all the definitive number of deaths for which Harold Shipman is believed to be responsible. The report will allow the coroner to amend death certificates of further victims without holding a full inquest. This is important because although he has been found guilty on 15 counts, subsequent inquests found him guilty of another 25 unlawful deaths.

The subsequent stage of this inquiry will look at how this doctor was able to murder so many people over such a long period of time. And then in the final stage it will look at proposals to change procedures in the national health service to prevent this kind of thing from happening again.

Q: Is this kind of inquiry usual in Britain?

LOWRIE: It's an independent public inquiry recommended by the Secretary of State for Health and approved by Parliament. The British government has held number of other inquiries on major tragedies, for instance the Hillsborough football disaster, Bloody Sunday and the Paddington rail crash. So there is a tradition of open public inquiry here.

Q: Why won't Shipman be there?

LOWRIE: Shipman will remain in his cell in Frankland Jail in County Durham, but he will be given the interim report and will be invited to respond.