You may have been aware: there is an ongoing inquiry in Essex in to unexplained, unexpected deaths which took place within the mental health trust. Led by former national clinical director for mental health in NHS England, Dr Geraldine Strathdee, it’s been running since 2021 , examining a number of deaths which occurred in the county’s mental health services between 2000 and 2020, potentially as many as 2,000 deaths. Yes – thousand. The inquiry hit up against a practical barrier last year, which caused the chair to seek the statutory powers of a public inquiry which were today confirmed in an announcement in parliament by the Secretary of State for Health.
The barrier related to potential witnesses – many of whom are former members of staff from the former North Essex Partnership Trust. They had been identified as essential witnesses for the inquiry but then declined to give evidence to it, which you might think is somewhat remarkable but the placing of this inquiry on a statutory footing now means the inquiry can compel witnesses to give evidence, where they believe the witnesses can offer relevant information and insight. Dr Strathdee stated when calling for greater powers to compel witnesses, that as many as 70% of the essential witnesses had declined to provide evidence and it’s the extent of this refusal that I find most bewildering.
An inquiry is examining up to 2,000 unexplained or unexpected deaths as 70% of essential healthcare professional witnesses simply declined to give evidence. It’s worth noting, Essex Partnership Trust disputes the relevant number is 2,000.
MATTHEW LEAHY
Chief amongst the campaigners has been Melanie Leahy – her twenty year old son, Matthew, died at the Linden mental health unit in Chelmsford in 2012 and she has been campaigning since then to understand how her son – and others beside – lost their lives whilst in receipt of NHS mental health care. Despite a number of reports and reviews, Mrs Leahy is on record in supporting the public inquiry and its call for statutory powers, because she still hasn’t had answers she believes are important in Matthew’s case.
In particular, there were questions about a 999 call which Matthew made whilst detained in the unit, alleging to the police he had been raped. Essex Police investigated the allegation and no arrests were made, but it was acknowledged the trust had failed to follow its own procedures where patients allege such serious crimes whilst detained. There are obviously many questions in addition for the mental health trust itself about the care and treatment offered whilst Matthew was detained and that is what the inquiry set out to examine, albeit without knowing that 70% of those witness identified as essential would refuse to give any evidence at all.
When the announcement was made confirming greater powers, it was also confirmed Dr Strathdee would be standing down as chair for personal reasons so the next phase of the inquiry will proceed under a new chair, yet to be confirmed and it will be worth watching, not least because of what was revealed when reviews were undertaken in to Southern Health NHS Trust after the death of Connor Sparrowhawk in July 2013. Campaigning by Connor’s mother, Sara Ryan, led to a wider review of deaths in that trust which revealed much that was concerning, including a failure to investigate over 1,000 deaths between 2011-215. It was recently found the Norfolk and Suffolk Mental Health Trust had “lost count” of the number of deaths of their patients after it was noticed they had published conflicting statistics in public documents.
No doubt, there will be much more on those trusts in the east of England.
Winner of the President’s Medal,
the Royal College of Psychiatrists.
Winner of the Mind Digital Media Award
All views expressed are my own – they do not represent the views of any organisation.
(c) Michael Brown, 2023
I try to keep this blog up to date, but inevitably over time, amendments to the law as well as court rulings and other findings from inquests and complaints processes mean it is difficult to ensure all the articles and pages remain current. Please ensure you check all legal issues in particular and take appropriate professional advice where necessary.
Government legislation website – www.legislation.gov.uk
Mental Health Cop 