Rank: Forum user 
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Afternoon all – just been asked a question I can’t answer satisfactorily. What legal rights do next of kin have if a person is injured in an accident at work (not fatal) but then subsequently passes away in hospital from complications from surgery?
Accident & RIDDOR reports are not of public record, so what legal rights do their next of kin have to find out details of the accident if the company aren’t willing to engage (apart from use a solicitor)?
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Rank: Super forum user 
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Next of kin have no rights to company records.
Sounds like an ambulance chaser seeking to turn an unfortunate passing in to something more.
The hospital certainly won't be handing paperwork direct to the family. Inform your insurers that the family have been given their contact details and the circumstances around doing so. Be wary of getting drawn in to SM spats and press accusations feelings will be raw and people will be desparate for answers to provide closure.
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Rank: Super forum user
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Next of kin have no rights to company records.
Sounds like an ambulance chaser seeking to turn an unfortunate passing in to something more.
The hospital certainly won't be handing paperwork direct to the family. Inform your insurers that the family have been given their contact details and the circumstances around doing so. Be wary of getting drawn in to SM spats and press accusations feelings will be raw and people will be desparate for answers to provide closure.
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Rank: Forum user
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Thanks Roundtuit, it's not an ambulance chaser though, it's the next of kin asking for advice as to what their rights were.
Not related to the company I work for, just someone trying to get some degree of understanding as to what happened to their loved one but I couldn't see that had any particular rights.
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Rank: Super forum user
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Rank: Super forum user
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Rank: Super forum user
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The NHS has a duty of candour in the event of something going wrong, e.g.unexpected death. That duty is owed to those affected which would include next of kin. In explaining things that duty should include results of post-mortem, results of any investigation as to why something went wrong. The patient confidentiality rules do not really apply to many deaths as the person most affected by a breach is no longer with us.
My advice to the next if kin would be to write to the hospital chief executive asking for a full explanation of what went wrong and if necessary, what changes are being made to prevent a recurrence. At this stage I would not be mentioning legal rights, just an adequate explanation that clearly states what went wrong and why.
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Rank: Super forum user
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Why the presumption that death due to complications automatically equals the hospital did something wrong?
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Rank: Super forum user
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Why the presumption that death due to complications automatically equals the hospital did something wrong?
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Rank: Super forum user 
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Of course, if the next of kin really wants to get your RIDDOR and accident report they just need to go to a solicitor and put in a claim for negligence of the company (whether true or not). You will then have to hand over these documents and they will be well on the path of making an actual claim as the solicitor will want to be paid somehow. However, if you give them the info, they may not make a claim. So legal right may be a moot point. Effectively you are betting that they will not go to a solicitor to get what they want, verses, taking the chance they just want to understand what happened by giving them the info and take it no further. If I was the next of kin and my request was refused by the company, I would think they had something to hide. That would push me to start civil proceedings. To be honest RIDDOR reports tend to be quite bland with info as often an investigation has not fully taken place by this point. They are normally worded in such a way as not to invite trouble from the HSE ( just being a realist here). Chris
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Rank: Forum user
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I'm not reading the OP as suggesting the hospital did something wrong, rather that the unfortunate person required surgery as a result of an accident at work and sadly did not survive that surgery? I have no idea what information a next of kin would be entitled to in that situation but I wouldn't really describe it as ambulance chasing!
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Rank: Super forum user
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unless you have rights of attoney you cannot...as far as the doctor/medical staff is concerned the medical confidentiality for the patient continues after death..the same would be true of the access to work records...you can make a GDPR request 'if' you are named on the employees records as NOK...but that may only give you access to the data that includes you as a named person..
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