Lampard Inquiry hears former Tory health minister implicated in cover-up
The inquiry into the deaths of mental health patients in Essex continues today
A barrister representing bereaved families at an inquiry into mental health deaths in Essex has told a hearing that former Conservative health minister Nadine Dorries engaged in a "classic example of cover-up", trying to prevent a full public inquiry.
The Lampard Inquiry will investigate the deaths of people who were receiving mental health inpatient care in Essex between 2000 and 2023.
Chairwoman, Baroness Kate Lampard CBE, said the number of deaths within the scope of the inquiry will be "significantly in excess of the 2,000" previously thought.
This will include people who died within three months of discharge, and those who died as inpatients receiving NHS-funded care in the independent sector.
Steven Snowden KC, for law firm Hodge Jones & Allen which is representing 52 core participants in the inquiry, raised an article published in The Daily Telegraph before the inquiry yesterday (Monday).
The article includes details of leaked WhatsApp messages from Ms Dorries, including an alleged exchange with then-health secretary Matt Hancock in November 2020.
In the messages, Ms Dorries wrote that she was "picking off" families whose relatives had died as a way to ensure a "full public inquiry" into "suspicious" deaths was not launched, the inquiry heard.
Mr Snowden told the inquiry on Monday: "What she (Nadine Dorries) did, we say, is a classic example of cover-up.
"Campaigners being actively undermined.
"A divide and conquer strategy when all those families sought was the truth."
He continued: "We may make a formal request in due course that Nadine Dorries and Matt Hancock be called to give evidence but that's a matter for another day."
The Essex Mental Health Independent Inquiry was established in 2021 without statutory status.
It was upgraded to a statutory footing last year, which means it has legal powers to compel witnesses to give evidence, and its first day was on Monday.
Speaking on the first day of the inquiry, Mr Snowden said some patients in the care of NHS trusts in Essex were "traumatised, or re-traumatised, by ill-treatment and abuse" and some suffered "avoidable injury, whilst on an NHS ward".
"What is more, it happened time and again," he said.
"Every time it happened, there was an opportunity to prevent further death and ill-treatment.
"But lessons were not learned, practices did not change, poor decisions were repeated, the tragedies continued, and continue to this day."
Priya Singh, a partner at Hodge Jones & Allen, which represents more than 120 victims and families at the Lampard Inquiry, said: "It has been shocking to hear that the inquiry is expecting to uncover many more deaths.
"There is no time to wait, people are still dying, not just in Essex, but potentially, nationally.
"We've heard encouraging sounds today, but the families have fought too hard and for too long to get this inquiry and will hold the inquiry team to account every step of the way.
"In turn, the inquiry team must demonstrate its trustworthiness and capability to deliver meaningful change to our clients.
"Nothing less will do.
"Today must mark the start of the families finally being treated with the dignity and respect that was so lacking in their loved one's care."