Wes Streeting confirms public inquiry into Teesside NHS trust

An NHS trust which grieving families say subjected their loved ones to “chaotic and appalling” mental health care will face a public inquiry.

Relatives met Health Secretary Wes Streeting, who announced an investigation into the Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Trust (TEWV), after years of campaigning.

They included the families of Christie Harnett and Nadia Sharif, who were treated at West Lane Hospital in Middlesbrough, where they both took their own lives aged 17, and Emily Moore, 18, who also took her own life after being treated there.

The trust said it would “fully support the process with transparency, openness and humility”.

Labour’s Streeting said it was grateful to all the families who shared their stories.

“What happened to their loved ones is unacceptable,” he said.

“Their courageous and tireless campaigning – not only on behalf of their families but for all those in urgent need of mental health support – has been nothing short of inspiring.”

He said the inquiry would focus on “uncovering the failures in care” at TEWV and would take place separately from other ongoing inquiries into mental health services, such as the Lampard inquiry.

Andy McDonald, MP for Middlesbrough and Thornaby East, who has supported the families in their appeals, said the announcement came with a “sense of vindication”.

“Today we feel an enormous sense of relief and achievement, reflecting years of tireless effort, but also a sense of vindication of their determination, that only a public inquiry would suffice,” he said.

He added that it was “imperative” that all public services were held to account.

McDonald said he recognized the trust’s “efforts to prevent future failures”.

“It has been a long and difficult fight to get to this day and the upcoming investigation will be painful but unfortunately it is very necessary,” he said.

Alison Smith, chief executive of TEWV, said she wanted the trust to continue to improve.

“Above all, we are committed to listening, reflecting and taking meaningful action to ensure continuous improvement as an organization,” she said.

The families said the deaths of their loved ones were an “avoidable tragedy”.

In 2022, an independent investigation found that three young women had died after a series of failures at an “unstable” and “overcrowded” psychiatric hospital.

The trust apologized and was ordered to pay £215,000 for safety failings which contributed to the deaths of Miss Harnett and another unnamed patient.

Miss Harnett’s stepfather Michael Harnett, of Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, said he had complained to the trust several times about West Lane but nothing had changed.

“It was horrible, every patient seemed to be self-harming. There were patients walking around covered in blood,” he said.

“Why was this allowed to escalate to this point and why has it been allowed to continue since?”

He said he feared that without answers, more people would die.

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Miss Moore took her own life in February 2020 while in hospital at Lanchester Road psychiatric hospital in Durham.

His father, David, said it was his campaign for a public inquiry that kept him going.

“She deserves this and I want to make sure this doesn’t happen to any other family.”

The Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys Trust is one of the largest trusts in the country, serving a population of around two million people across County Durham, Teesside and North Yorkshire.