Lampard Inquiry: Probe into 2,000 mental health deaths 'as important as Post Office Inquiry'
An inquiry into the deaths of 2,000 patients under the care of a mental health trust is "as important as the Post Office and Covid inquiries", according to a lawyer representing families of the victims.
The Lampard Inquiry, which will investigate the deaths of about 2,000 patients who were being cared for by mental health trusts in Essex, will begin on Monday.
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 a handful of the thousands of staff members had agreed to take part.
The reformulated inquiry, chaired by Baroness Kate Lampard, will begin with opening statements on Monday.
Priya Singh, a partner at Hodge Jones & Allen, a firm representing around 120 families, believes the Lampard Inquiry is just as important as the Post Office Inquiry.
"This is not something of the past," she said.
"Mental illness is not a terminal diagnosis, you're expected to improve from it."
Those who used the service were at their most vulnerable and never imagined they would face what they did within the trusts, she added.
"The ones who actually go somewhere [do so] thinking they're going to be protected. Families send their loved ones to these places; their loved ones go to these places thinking things are going to get better.
"They don't go in thinking they're never going to come out or they're going to end up dead."
Ms Singh said the inquiry was an opportunity to "change the system".
She added: "We can't let this happen again, and [it is] also for the families that have already suffered. Some of them do not know how their loved ones died so unless we know that, how can we change anything?"
The first inquiry into mental health - the Essex Mental Health Independent Inquiry - was set up in January 2021.
It was chaired by Dr Geraldine Strathdee. But she then called for the extra powers after just 11 staff members out of 14,000 agreed to give evidence.
In June 2023, Health Secretary Steve Barclay agreed to give the inquiry statutory powers, meaning witnesses were legally compelled to give evidence.
Baroness Lampard was announced as the new chair of the converted inquiry last September.
In recent years, ITV News Anglia has reported on families who have lost loved ones while under the care of the mental health trust in Essex.
Julia Hopper's son, Chris Nota, from Southend-on-Sea, fell from a bridge shortly after he was discharged from a mental health unit.
The 19-year-old, who was autistic, had been under the care of the Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust in Basildon and Southend before he died in July 2020.
Melanie Leahy's son Matthew died in 2012 under the care of Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust and has been campaigning for 10 years to look deeper into Essex mental health services.
Ms Singh wants the psychiatric system in the UK to be "something we can be proud of."
"I think collectively we would have all failed if this was just another report which is shelved, accumulating dust at the end of this inquiry.
"That cannot happen. We have to have recommendations which are actioned. We can't have something which is not actioned and this horrendous situation is repeated."
Following the opening statements on Monday, the inquiry will hear impact evidence from survivors of the trust and families who lost loved ones from 16 September.
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