Essex mental health trust: 'We are sorry'

Eleanor Grey KC, representing EPUT, said the trust 'understood the importance of it learning lessons'

The trust in charge of running mental health services in Essex has apologised to patients, family members and carers for "failing" them.

In its opening statement to the Lampard Inquiry, Essex Partnership University Trust (EPUT) said those failures had been exacerbated by not listening properly to "the concerns of patients, family and friends".

The inquiry is looking into the deaths of at least 2,000 mental health patients in Essex over 24 years.

Barrister Eleanor Grey KC, representing EPUT, said: “The trust would like to reiterate to all those who have suffered the loss of a loved one that we are sorry and to acknowledge that even when there might be a firm hope and belief that the inquiry would deliver the answers they had been seeking, nothing can bring back a loved one".

She went on to add that patients, families and carers had "a right to expect safe services" but that those were "not always provided".

The legal team representing one group of families compared their experience with "those in authority" to that of the families of the Hillsborough victims

Ms Grey said that EPUT was striving to improve mental healthcare and the trust "understood the importance of it learning lessons".

Before it was made a statutory inquiry, only 14 out of 11,000 EPUT staff came forward to give evidence.

But the trust said it was "committed to engaging candidly" and saw this inquiry as a "space for openness and transparency".

Ms Grey recognised there were serious issues that had been raised about staff conduct including the neglect and abuse of patients and staff falling asleep.

"We acknowledge there have been serious allegations of sexual assault of patients by staff and staff by other staff members."

She said sexual safety was an "ongoing issue" and pointed to a 2018 national Care Quality Commission report which said that sexual safety incidents were "commonplace" in mental health wards.

Ms Grey said the trust was investing £14.4m in the 2024/25 financial year to make improvements and had already been through "a programme of wholesale change", making wards safer and introducing new technology like body worn cameras.

But she pointed to the national pressures that were facing mental health services saying there was "a rising demand for services" and "considerable pressures on beds".

She also said the trust was affected by national recruitment issues like the shortage of nurses and said that had affected staff workload, morale and the ability of staff to provide high quality care.

Ms Grey said the trust had undertaken a major recruitment drive adding 1,700 staff in 2023, and said that vacancy rates had fallen to 10 per cent from an all time high of 40 per cent in 2020.

She said much of the recruitment had taken place abroad.

Baroness Lampard said there was "an urgency to her work" as a number of issues remained of concern in mental health services today

In her opening speech, inquiry chairwoman, Baroness Lampard warned the number of deaths investigated was expected to be "significantly in excess" of the 2,000 figure previously reported.

But added, they may never know the true number.

Ms Grey, representing EPUT, questioned the number, saying the investigation would include patients who died of natural causes, unrelated to mental health issues including some who were on an end of life pathway.

She added: "It's clear concerns had been raised in numerous reports about the quality of data across England."

North East London NHS Foundation Trust, which provides children's and young people's services in parts of Essex, also said how "sorry" they were.

Valerie Charbit, representing the trust, said they were "fully committed to learning and changing to prevent any further mental health deaths".

Bereaved families will read impact statements at the inquiry next week, with evidence sessions beginning in London in 2025.