"I've had 12 years of reports that are shelved, this can't be another one" says grieving mother ahead of mental health inquiry

An inquiry looking at the deaths of 2,000 mental health patients in Essex will hear evidence this week.

The Lampard inquiry, which begins today (9 September), will look into the deaths of 2000 mental health patients who died in the care of Essex Partnership University Trust between 1 January 2000 and 31 December 2023.

The scope of the investigation is to include people who died within three months of discharge, and those who died as inpatients receiving NHS-funded care in the independent sector.

An inquiry had opened before, but families who lost loved ones called for it to be given more powers - after it was revealed that just 11 of 14,000 mental health staff had given evidence.

New evidence, from the Telegraph, reveals a Conservative health minister tried to block this full public inquiry.

Nadine Dorries told Matt Hancock, "we aren't going there".

She said in WhatsApp messages, "One of the Mums has the weight of the media behind her ... and is still calling for a public inquiry. I'm picking off the other families and speaking to them one by one to get them on side to isolate her (Melanie Leahy)."

Melanie Leahy's son Matthew died in 2012 under the care of Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust.

He was admitted to the Linden Centre, Broomfield, on 7 November 2012 and had died within 7 days of being there.

Ms Leahy has been campaigning for Matthew's justice for 12 years now.

"Whatever the recommendations that come out of this, I need them to be put in place. Otherwise it becomes another report that's shelved. And I've had 12 years of reports that have been shelved."

"Ultimately this is a fight for me to find out what happened to Matthew. Moving forward I want accountability and justice."

Timeline of Lampard Inquiry

2012: Matthew died in the Linden Centre, Broomsfield.

2015: First independent inquest into Matthew's case.

It was left as an open narrative and was not proved that Matthew had died of suicide.

2016: Essex Police Investigation Reopened

2017: Essex police investigated into 125 deaths by ligature for corporate manslaughter, all of which were dismissed.

2019: Ms Leahy started a petition for a parliament debate over Matthew's case. She gained 105,580 signatures, enough for a debate.

The debate led to an independent inquiry into Essex mental health services.

The first independent inquiry uncovered 1500 deaths under mental health services. 900 of those had an unknown cause.

At the inquiry, 11 mental health staff out of 14,000 gave evidence.

2020: Essex Partnership University Trust pleaded guilty to causation of 11 deaths, including Matthew's. And a fine was ensued of 1.5 million.

2023: The Department of Health and Social Care issued a formal notice of conversion, confirming the Inquiry’s statutory status.

Following a four-week consultation in November 2023, the government gave in to pressure from families and the then chair of the inquiry, granting it legal powers to compel witnesses to give evidence.

2024: Baroness Kate Lampard CBE, now Chair of the statutory public inquiry, published the final Terms of Reference

Now

The Inquiry's first public hearing, which includes opening statements and impact evidence, will begin today (Monday 9 September) and end Thursday 12 September. It will be chaired by Baroness Kate Lampard.

The evidence collected will then be reviewed and analysed.

The Inquiry report will be drafted, along with its recommendations.

And finally, the report and recommendations will be published.

You can find the live YouTube broadcast for the Inquiry here

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