What is the Lampard mental health public inquiry?

The health watchdog, the Care Quality Commission (CQC), raised concerns around the safety of wards and staffing from 2014 to 2018, external. Recommendations were not acted on.

In 2017, Essex Police launched a corporate manslaughter investigation into the deaths of 25 patients at nine mental health units, but there were no charges. Police said the cases did not meet the “evidential threshold”.

In 2019, the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman published a report into the deaths of Matthew Leahy and Ben Morris, external. It quoted a “systemic failure to tackle repeated and critical failings over an unacceptable period of time”.

A year later, Melanie Leahy and 24 other families set up an online petition for an independent inquiry. About 105,000 people signed it, forcing a debate in Parliament.

In 2021, former health minister Nadine Dorries said a robust independent inquiry would be held, external, but it would not have full legal powers to compel staff witnesses to give evidence.

That same year, the Health and Safety Executive fined EPUT £1.5m after the deaths of 11 patients. The judge said there was a “litany of failures”, external and suicides were not prevented.

Last year, following an undercover report by Channel 4’s Dispatches, external, the CQC rated two female wards “inadequate”. It showed staff sleeping while they were supposed to be observing patients.

In the same year, the inquiry was given full legal powers at the request of the former chair Dr Geraldine Strathdee, who stepped down for personal reasons.

More deaths were then included for investigation because of “ongoing concerns” over services.