Ms Lois West:

Structurally there are issues with PULSE. We documented this in our 17 June report in the recommendations section. It is hard to understand why there would be 16 different ways to classify a death in PULSE. That will only add to confusion that members feel. For example, there is a "sudden death" category and a "dead body, no offence disclosed" category. That could nearly be seen as an optional choice. What is the difference? I am sure when they were devised and added to the system, there was a rationale. Over time the person who asked for that to be added is no longer there and others do not understand why it was added or what it was for.

A pattern can be seen where a particular division will be recording in a particular category that no other division really uses. Again that confuses the issue. From our point of view, one of the first things that needed to happen was an overhaul of PULSE - to refine that, to simplify and bring down the number of ways a death can be recorded. As Ms Galligan would say from her professional background, there should really only be four to five categories available for a member or someone in the information services centre to choose from. As I said earlier, there is a multitude of different reasons these things-----