Bereaved mother filled with "justified rage" on Lampard Inquiry
Julia Hopper campaigned for the Lampard Inquiry for five and a half years
Last updated 26th Nov 2024
A bereaved mother - who has "tirelessly" campaigned for an inquiry into at least 2000 deaths of mental health patients in Essex - says she's "filled with justified rage" at how the Inquiry is being handled.
The Lampard Inquiry, which has been examining mental health-related deaths at NHS-run units in Essex between 2000 and 2023 - has entered a further round of commemorative hearings this week.
Julia Hopper, from Southend, has spent the last five and a half years campaigning for action on behalf of her son Chris Nota, who died aged 19 in July 2020 after falling from height.
She told Greatest Hits Radio:
"We have lost more than 2000 people, have their families all been contacted directly? How many families are even aware that the Inquiry is on?
"One of the people who spoke in the last set of hearings in September only found out there was an Inquiry four days before it happened."
"We don't have any sense of co-production which we would have expected, like putting the Inquiry together as a team.
"We feel detached from the Inquiry and it feels very muted.
"To me it feels like a runaway train: we're just running to catch up and not succeeding."
She continues: "down the line, will this inquiry really give us what we need?"
"To get things to change such that nobody else has to lose their loved one.
"When people go and enter into mental health services, those services should be warm, welcoming, healing, and safe."
"At the moment I don't feel like that will be the outcome", says Ms Hopper.
The chief executive of Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (EPUT), Paul Scott, has previously said it was committed to learning from the inquiry.
The Inquiry say they have "proactively sought to contact over 5,000 potentially affected individuals, providing clear information about participation" and is "committed to ensuring those impacted have opportunities to be heard."
The figures were also flagged in Chair Baroness Lampard's second round of opening statements today (25 November).
Opening the inquiry in September, Baroness Lampard said it was "of the gravest concern and significance".
She warned the number of deaths was expected to be "significantly in excess" of the 2,000 figure previously reported.
The Lampard Inquiry wrote in a statement to Greatest Hits Radio: "To date, around 80 family witnesses have chosen to provide impact evidence. In our September hearings, approximately 50 family witnesses shared their experiences, with plans to hear from an additional 30 during our virtual hearing.
"The Inquiry Chair has also extended an open invitation for all family members who are Core Participants to attend informal virtual meetings.
"However, we emphasise that engagement with the Inquiry is not limited to Core Participant status, and those who are not Core Participants may be able to provide evidence to the Inquiry, by being a witness, or by way of documents or other material.
"The Inquiry values listening to a range of different experiences."
From Monday 25th November until Wednesday 27th November, the Inquiry will hear further commemorative evidence from families and friends of patients who died, as well as Opening Statements from the Inquiry and legal representatives of families.
"The Inquiry intends to focus principally on commemorative and impact evidence from the families and friends of patients who died. At a later stage, the Inquiry will hear further detailed and substantive evidence about the circumstances of patients’ care and treatment and all other matters falling within the Inquiry’s Terms of Reference."