Luciana Berger MP, Labour’s Shadow Minister for Mental Health, commenting on the decision to issue Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust with a warning notice, said:

“It is deeply disturbing that Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust has not addressed serious concerns raised about the safety of its patients.

“It is more than two years since the tragic death of Connor Sparrowhawk, who was in the care of this Trust and a recent report found that Southern Health failed to investigate more than 1,000 unexpected deaths of mental health and learning disability patients since 2011. It is extremely worrying that the Trust’s leadership has not taken the appropriate action to improve patient safety.

“I welcome the steps now being taken by the CQC and NHS Improvement. However, patients and their families will rightly be very concerned about how this situation has been allowed to persist and who is taking responsibility for this fundamental failure of care for some of the most vulnerable people in our society.

“Jeremy Hunt needs to take urgent action to address this situation and provide assurances to patients and families about whether or not these services are currently safe. I intend to raise this with Ministers when Parliament resumes next week.”