1 week Ago By Rebecca Thomas
A landmark public inquiry will look at ‘significantly in excess’ of 2,000 patients but may never uncover the true number of deaths which occured over two decades, its chair has said. The stautory public inquiry into the deaths of patients treated under NHS mental health services in Essex began on Monday , after more than a decade of campaigning by families . Opening the inquiry it’s chair, Baroness Kate Lampard, said she had not yet recieved enough reliable data or information to confirm the total number of deaths which can be looked at.
The Lampard Inquiry will investigate the deaths of people who were receiving mental health inpatient care between 2000 and 2023. Baroness Lampard said “we may never have a definitive number of deaths put forward within the inquiry’s remit”. She said she is “committed to publish” a number but “this number is only ever likely to be approximate and I find it shocking we may never be able to say for sure how many people died in the remit of this inquiry”.
However, she said the figure will be “significantly in excess” of 2,000. The inquiry was previously a non-statory probe and covered 2,000 deaths. However, in June 2023 former health secretary Steve Barcley upgraded the inquiry to give it powers to compell witnesses and organisations to give evidence.
When appointed to chair the statutory inquiry Baroness Lampard called for further evidence on deaths covered by the inquiry and widened its remit. The inquiry will not only cover patients admitted to NHS essex hospitals but also those who died with three months of discharge and those who recieving NHS funded care in private hospitals. Prior to the independent inquiry, Essex Police had launched a corporate manslaughter prob into deaths, however dropped the case.
In 2021 the Health and Safety Executive fined Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust £1.5m over failures in care that led to the deaths of 11 patients. A number of bereaved parents and families gathered outside the inquiry venue in Chelmsford on Monday, laying placards on the pavement with photos of loved ones who had died.
Among the banners on display was one saying “We will not be silenced”, another read “We demand truth justice accountability change” and a third stated: “Failed by Essex mental health services”. Some bereaved parents had indicated that they would protest outside the venue because they had been refused core participant status in the inquiry, a special status which grants participatory rights including being able to suggest lines of questioning via counsel to the inquiry. The deaths covered by the inquiry include those treated by the former North Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (NEP) and South Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (SEPT), which merged to form EPUT in April 2017.
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