The grandmother of a County Durham teenager who died while under the care of the Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys (TEWV) NHS Trust has welcomed plans for a "rapid review" of mental health inpatient care - but said it would be no replacement for a full statutory public inquiry.
Christie Harnett died aged 17 at West Lane Hospital in Middlesbrough. The Newton Aycliffe teenager was one of three young women to die under the trust's care between June 2019 and February 2020, along with Nadia Sharif and Emily Moore. Each had spent time at West Lane Hospital - which was subsequently closed before being reopened under a new name and new management.
Since 2020, the three families have been campaigning together for a public inquiry into what went on. Last November, reports produced by consulting firm Niche collated a staggering 118 failings which had, the independent firm said, led to the deaths.
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In December, they met with health minister Maria Caulfield - who has responsibility for mental health - and the families discussed the need for a statutory inquiry that would specifically consider the issues at TEWV.
After Ms Caulfield announced in a written ministerial statement on Monday that a "rapid review" would take place into mental health inpatient care around the country, Christie's grandmother Casey Tremain welcomed the news as a positive "first step". But she was clear that the families continue to believe a full inquiry is vital - no matter how long it takes.
Explaining that the "ripples of grief" continue to affect her family, Casey told ChronicleLive: "I was glad to hear about this announcement of more funding for mental health services, because we know that those services across the whole country are stretched to the limit. Waiting to be seen can take years. I see they are hoping to have a fleet of ambulances and separate areas so mental health patients don't go into the main A&E - that seems really good to me."
However while saying she was happy to hear about the review - which the minister had alluded to when she met the families - she added: "We are happy about that - it's a first step but we still need to see a statutory inquiry into Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys. We think that's still needed. They were breaching protocols, weren't following guidelines.
"The time it will take shouldn't rule out a public inquiry. It's three and a half years since Christie passed away, it doesn't worry us how long it takes. Nothing can bring Christie, Nadia and Emily back. We have had a few answers but not all the answers - we still want that statutory inquiry."
The Government announcement highlighted that safety risks and failures in mental health settings in England will be looked at as part of the rapid review into patient care, and it has been welcomed by a number of national NHS figures and charities such as Mind.
In her written statement, Ms Caulfield said: "This review is an essential first step in improving safety in mental health inpatient settings It will focus on what data and evidence is currently available to healthcare services, including information provided by patients and families and how we can use this data and evidence more effectively to identify patient safety risks and failures in care."
This comes after a number of high-profile scandals have been exposed in the mental health inpatient sector - including what happened to Christie, Emily and Nadia.
Ms Caulfield added there was to be a "three-year Quality Improvement programme" to tackle "root causes" of unsafe and poor-quality in-patient care. She also announced £150m funding to be used for 150 new projects to support mental health urgent and emergency care services, that includes support for up to 100 new specialist mental health ambulances over the next two years and schemes for new and redesigned mental health facilities in emergency departments.
Following the reports investigating the deaths of Christie, Nadia and Emily and the repeated calls for a public inquiry, Brent Kilmurray, chief executive at TEWV, said in November: "It is clear from the reports that no single individual or group of individuals were solely to blame – it was a failure of our systems with tragic consequences.
"We have since undergone a thorough change in our senior leadership team and our structure and, as importantly, changed the way we care and treat our patients. However, the transformation needed is not complete. We need to get better and ensure that respect, compassion and responsibility is at the centre of everything we do."
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