Responding to the results of the Beverly Allitt inquiry

In May 1993, while many nurses were gathered in Harrogate for the RCN's annual congress, the verdicts of the trial of enrolled nurse Beverly Allitt were announced. The nursing world found it difficult to believe that while employed on a six-month fixed-term contract on the children's ward at Grantham and Kesteven District General Hospital Ms Allitt had been convicted of murdering four children and injuring nine others. The following February the report of the Allitt inquiry was published. The inquiry team, chaired by Sir Cecil Clothier, had met 35 times, interviewed 94 witnesses in person, received written submissions from a number of interested bodies and reviewed numerous other relevant documents. This paper reviews the inquiry's original recommendations and outlines the actions that have been taken to implement them.