An inquiry in March 1998 by West Pennine Health Authority and the Greater Manchester Police failed to find any evidence of criminal behaviour by Dr Harold Shipman, and he went on to kill three more of his patients. The health authority has suspended its medical adviser, Dr Alan Banks, who was responsible for examining patients' records during the inquiry.
Dr Linda Reynolds, a GP at the Brooke Surgery, opposite Dr Shipman's practice in Hyde, Cheshire, became concerned in 1998 about the unusually high death rates of his patients.
She approached the coroner for Tameside, Mr John Pollard, who asked the Greater Manchester Police to launch an inquiry.
The detective inspector in charge of the inquiry met with the health authority's consumer affairs department. The department believed that Dr Banks would be the most suitable person to examine Dr Shipman's conduct.
Dr Banks inspected 15 sets of patients' notes from Dr Shipman's surgery. He wished to look at a further five sets but was unable to obtain them. The inspected notes were later found to have been fraudulently altered by Dr Shipman.
Dr Banks found no evidence to corroborate Dr Reynolds's concerns, and the inquiry was closed. Dr Reynolds was told that, although the death rate was higher in Dr Shipman's practice than in hers, these variations were acceptable given the population differences between the two surgeries.
The police have been widely criticised for failing to interview relatives of Dr Shipman's patients as part of the 1998 inquiry or to check whether he had a criminal or General Medical Council record.
Commenting on Dr Banks's suspension, David Common, the chief executive of West Pennine Health Authority, said: “Suspension is purely a neutral act and does not in any way imply wrongdoing.”
BMA reaction in News Extra at www.bmj.com