What is the Lampard Inquiry and what could it change?

Mental health patients are among the most vulnerable in society, but services in England have been under huge strain for at least a decade, with sometimes fatal consequences. A public inquiry backed by the government is focusing on deaths in Essex as a starting point, but what is it and what does it hope to achieve?

Solicitors representing a growing number of families who have lost loved ones say the Lampard Inquiry, which resumes on 28 April, is as important as those surrounding the Post Office and infected blood scandals.

The chair of the inquiry says it is looking at significantly more than 2,000 deaths and the inquiry team says the alleged failings are "on a scale that is deeply shocking".

The failures reported in Essex over 24 years could be an indication of what is going on elsewhere. By examining those failures in detail, it is hoped mental healthcare will be improved across England.

The Lampard Inquiry is the first public inquiry specifically looking into mental health deaths.

It will aim to understand what happened to patients who died at children and adult inpatient units, under the care of the NHS in Essex, between the years 2000 and the end of 2023.

The inquiry will focus on Essex Partnership University Foundation NHS Trust , external(EPUT) and the North East London Foundation Trust, external (NELFT), along with organisations that existed previously.

Calls for an inquiry were first made by the mothers of two 20-year-old men who died at the Linden Centre - a mental health unit in Chelmsford.

In 2008, Ben Morris, the son of Lisa Morris, was found dead after calling her to say he wanted to leave.

Four years later, in 2012, staff said they found Melanie Leahy's son Matthew unresponsive, and he was pronounced dead in hospital. He reported being raped days before he died.

Essex Police investigated and no arrests were made but the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO), which followed up Ms Leahy's complaints, found the mental health trust failed to follow its own rape allegation procedures.

His care plan was also falsified.

Since then, repeated failures have been raised in the county.

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Source: The Independent, 9 September 2025