Why we need a better understanding of healthcare inquiries

Goodwin, Dawn (2025) Why we need a better understanding of healthcare inquiries. In: BSA Medical Sociology Conference, 2025-09-10 - 2025-09-12, Northumbria University.

Abstract

Healthcare has recently seen a series of statutory (eg Thirlwall, Covid, Lampard, Infected Blood) and non-statutory inquiries (eg maternity care at Shrewsbury and Telford, East Kent, Nottingham). Yet, despite their frequency and public importance, knowledge about inquiries is limited. Inquiries are under-researched (Schlembach and Hart, 2022) and under-theorised (Thomas et al, 2024). Methodological constraints further limit understanding. Stark (2019) noted the absence of primary data, and Goodwin et al (under review) highlight how participants’ experiences have rarely been studied. Often, inquiry processes are overshadowed by the subject of the inquiry and inquiry reports are used as lenses on safety, risk, human error and organisational failure. Sociology of health and illness (SHI) has long attended to issues of professional regulation and is increasingly engaged with safety, harm and incident investigation. Yet, how inquiries intersect with these issues has escaped attention. I suggest important aspects of inquiries remain unstudied which map to key interests in SHI and science and technology studies (STS). STS has a tradition of scrutinising processes of knowledge production, yet there is little empirical study of inquiry processes, and the juridical basis of practice is widely taken-for-granted. Neither do we understand what human costs are involved and for whom. To explore this requires research focused on participants’ experiences, paralleling SHI’s focus on lived experiences of illness which has resulted in such rich conceptual developments. Thus, I argue for research that blends the concerns of SHI and STS to address important gaps in understanding the processes and consequences of inquiries.