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An inquest is opened by a coroner, and is a fact-finding investigation used to determine when, where and how a person died. On average, inquests are opened on 53.8% of postmortems conducted every year (2014-2021).
A caveat to the pipeline is that inquests can be opened without a postmortem examination. From 2014 to 2021, 18.5% of inquests are opened without postmortems.
Inquests can be concluded (a cause of death is determined), adjourned (postponed), or left open (no conclusion is reached regarding the cause of death).