NHS manager says trust wanted 4,000 reports 'gone'

A senior clinical manager at the trust that runs mental health services in Essex says he was told 4,000 unresolved patient safety reports needed to be "gone", while a public inquiry was under way.

Giving evidence to the Lampard Inquiry, Brian O'Donnell, a clinical lead at the St Aubyn Centre in Colchester, accused the trust of a "cover up" to stop him from speaking out.

The inquiry was set up following the deaths of more than 2,000 mental health patients over a 24-year period.

Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (EPUT) told the BBC: "All reports are taken seriously, recorded and investigated."

O'Donnell told the inquiry that, at the end of 2024, he was asked to review thousands of incident reports raised by staff, some dating back to 2021.

He said he was instructed by a senior member of staff, who said: "We need to get these gone."

They included incidents involving self-harm, assaults on staff and racial abuse, he explained.

"The first thing that popped into my head was there's an inquiry going on and they're panicking about these because no-one's looked at them - that was my first thought and that's what I still think."

Talking about the way the trust acted at the time, he said: "There wasn't, 'Can there be a thorough investigation of these and can you feed back?' It was, 'We need these gone, we need these processed and we need them gone'."

O'Donnell said he initially closed some of the reports but stopped after becoming uncomfortable.

"I thought, I can't put my name to this and say I've thoroughly investigated it because I haven't," he told the inquiry.

Asked what happened to the remaining reports, he said: "They sat on my dashboard for a very long time then disappeared one day. I don't know whether they've been dealt with. I doubt it."

O'Donnell also raised concerns about staffing levels.

He said staff who reported concerns were often seen as "a nuisance or a trouble-maker".

A staffing rota he drew up still showed gaps even when all staff were theoretically available, he added.

"It was very clear that we were short of staff. We'd been raising concerns for a very long time."

He told the inquiry he believed there had been an attempt to silence him after he raised concerns with a coroner following the death of 16-year-old Elise Sebastian.

His access to incident reporting systems was removed four days later, he said.

"It was a clear cover-up to try and silence me from speaking out," he said. EPUT did not respond to this specific allegation.

O'Donnell also alleged staff were told to say "as little as possible at inquests" and that the trust seemed to care "more about its reputation than someone having the courage to speak up".

Asked why he had chosen to give evidence, O'Donnell said: "I think we owe it to the families."

Trevor Smith, chief executive of EPUT, said staff had "a professional duty to report concerns" and that extensive work had taken place to create a culture where colleagues and patients felt able to raise issues.

In a separate statement, released to the BBC on Thursday, EPUT added: "All incidents and concerns are taken seriously, investigated and remain open until any necessary action has been taken to resolve the incident and learning shared to improve safety and prevent recurrences."

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