{"id":288023,"date":"2026-02-17T08:33:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T08:33:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/288023\/"},"modified":"2026-02-17T08:33:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T08:33:07","slug":"lampard-inquiry-hears-more-evidence-on-essex-mental-health-deaths","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/288023\/","title":{"rendered":"Lampard Inquiry hears more evidence on Essex mental health deaths"},"content":{"rendered":"

There will be some pre-recorded evidence sessions from bereaved families and others in April, followed by sessions in July and October looking at topics including assessments, admissions, sexual safety, ward safety and police involvement.<\/p>\n

In a statement issued last month, Baroness Lampard said a public evidence session – due to run from 20 April to 7 May – had been cancelled, and would instead be used for the pre-recorded evidence sessions. <\/p>\n

Baroness Lampard said there had been “some delay” in receiving material – such as witness statements and documents – from EPUT, as well as others.<\/p>\n

“Unfortunately, such delays have impacted the ability of the inquiry to progress investigations and other work as quickly as I would like,” she said.<\/p>\n

In December last year, solicitors acting for the bereaved families warned the inquiry risked failing to meet its legal duty<\/a> unless it set out a “clear plan and roadmap”.<\/p>\n

Maya Sikand KC, speaking for families represented by three law firms, said there were “urgent concerns” and described facing “a wall of silence” from the inquiry team.<\/p>\n

“Without a robust and urgent roadmap, there is a real risk this inquiry will not be able to fulfil its statutory objectives in the allotted time,” she warned.<\/p>\n

In an earlier statement to the inquiry, EPUT apologised to everyone failed by mental health services in Essex.<\/p>\n

EPUT Chief Executive Paul Scott said: “We will continue to do all we can to support Baroness Lampard and her team to provide the answers that patients, families and carers are seeking.”<\/p>\n

The hearings will continue next year with closing statements expected in June 2027.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There will be some pre-recorded evidence sessions from bereaved families and others in April, followed by sessions in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":288024,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[134,554,555,111,139,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-288023","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-mental-health","10":"tag-mentalhealth","11":"tag-new-zealand","12":"tag-newzealand","13":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=288023"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288023\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/288024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=288023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=288023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=288023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}