Lampard Inquiry: Grandma admitted to Broomfield mental health ward for '3-week quick fix' ended up dying there
A beloved Essex grandma was admitted to a mental health ward for a "three-week quick fix" - only to end up dying while under the NHS trust's care, an inquiry heard. Iris Scott was a grandma of six and beloved by her family before her "horrific and avoidable" death in 2014.
Mrs Scott's children Dawn and Craig gave powerful statements to The Lampard Inquiry on Monday (September 23), which is examining more than 2,000 deaths of patients under the care of the Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (EPUT) between 2000 and 2023. The sibings are one of many bereaved family members to be sharing commemorative statements to the inquiry this week.
The inquiry heard that Mrs Scott was admitted to the Ruby Ward in Broomfield in 2014, which her family was told would be a "three-week quick fix". Despite this, she was found unresponsive in her room on March 1, and sadly died the same day. The inquiry heard Mrs Scott had self-harmed in her room.
Read more: Families share emotional pain and heartache at loss of loved ones
Read more: Mum was threatened with arrest moments after son died
Dawn Johnson, Mrs Scott's daughter, said that her mother had a note on her file instructing the trust to contact her and her brother Craig Scott with any news on her care as she did not want her husband to be disturbed. Despite this, Ms Johnson said their father was visited by police officers in the middle of the night on instruction from the trust to inform him of his wife's death.
Mrs Scott's children described her as "strong, energetic, vibrant and full of love". She was sporty, academic and mathematical, with a "problem-solving brain". Mrs Scott took care of her sister-in-law after losing her brother to a brain tumour, with "nothing phasing her", making all her money going a long way, and supporting her children and grandchildren through everything.
One of her grandsons said Mrs Scott "taught him how to cook" and told him to "always put family and friends first". The inquiry heard Mrs Scott would plan out Christmas months in advance, making it a "three day package" that was a "well-oiled machine".
Ms Johnson said: "The last few months of her life sullied the memories which the people she loved more than anything else. Her care, or lack of, humiliated her and her condition. It led to a horrific and avoidable death and undermined her nearest and dearest to grieve properly and wholly. They are to blame for the unimaginable wounds torn open and remained bare for many years.
"They took away the loudest voice of the Christmas table, the proudest mum of the entire family. Regardless of the result of the inquiry, these are the injustices that they will never be able to pay for. Other families shouldn’t have to go through the same inexplicable pain.
"On March 1, 2014, mine and my family’s lives changed forever. She was found hanging on Ruby Ward while under the care of EPUT. Despite a note on her file that any news should come through my brother and myself the ward sent police to my father’s house where he was sleeping alone. Dad had to contact Craig and I. My distraught dad said ‘she’s done it, she’s done it’. We had lost our mum in such tragic circumstances.
"My sons lost their grandmother and they lost me. My dad didn’t want to be here anymore. Mum was admitted to Ruby Ward for what we were told was a ‘three-week quick fix’, never to return to us. To the Essex Partnership University NHS Trust; my mum was just one person, to us she was the world."
Craig Scott, Mrs Scott's son, said: “She encouraged us to support our dreams and ambitions. She was the most devoted, caring and supportive mother and grandmother. She knew her own opinions and never shied away from a debate.
“Dad received a knock from police in the middle of the night [...] I fear we will never truly know what happened around our mum’s death. Trying to console our two teenage daughters about what happened remains the hardest thing I have ever had to do in my life.
“On March 1, I changed forever. The person I was has gone, he went with mum. We all rallied around dad, but his health began to deteriorate [after her inquest]. He had given up, he didn’t want to be here anymore without his Iris. He died in 2017.”
The inquiry will continue throughout Monday and Tuesday this week at Chelmsford Civic Hall.