Ministerial Statement – Mental health inpatient services: Improving safety (28 June 2023)

Summary

This is the transcript of an oral statement to the House of Commons by Steve Barclay MP, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, on improving safety in mental health in-patient services across England.

Content

In this statement the Secretary of State:

• Provided an update on the independent inquiry into mental health in-patient care across NHS trusts in Essex between 2000 and 2020. He announced that in response to concerns raised by the inquiry’s Chair, Dr Geraldine Strathdee, about the extremely low engagement from staff at Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust, the Government had made the decision to give the inquiry statutory powers. He also noted that Dr Strathdee would be standing down from the inquiry and a new Chair would be appointed in due course.
• Advised that the findings and recommendations of a rapid review of how data is used in in-patient mental health settings in England has now been published, noting that the Government will consider this report and respond in due course.
• Stated that the Department of Health and Social Care would be working alongside the new Health Services Safety Investigations Body to undertake a series of investigations focused on mental health inpatient settings on the following themes: how providers learn from deaths in their care and use that learning to improve services, including post-discharge services; how young people are cared for in mental health in-patient services and how that care can be improved; how out-of-area placements are handled; and how to develop a safe staffing model for all mental health in-patient services.

The statement was followed by questions and comments from members of the House of Commons.