"ANYONE receiving treatment in an inpatient mental health facility should receive safe, high-quality and compassionate care and be treated with dignity and respect,” says a spokesperson for the Department and Social Care, and no one can disagree with a single word of the statement.

Yet it is also true that people attending Darlington’s West Park Hospital, in the care of the Tees, Esk and Wear Valley Trust, have not always received high quality, compassionate care and have not been treated with dignity and respect.

This mental health trust has been through an extremely sticky patch in recent years, with the deaths of three young women connected to its Middlesbrough site a terrible tragedy between June 2019 and February 2020. The report into those deaths revealed a shameful lack of humanity from the board down to the ward staff.

It is only now that brave people like Charlotte Howell are coming forward and telling their stories that the public can see how far this toxic culture spread.

Since 2020, we are told that the trust has undergone radical change in terms of personnel and, especially, culture.

It is always easy to call for inquiries but, as more horrific experiences emerge, we remain convinced that only a full inquiry into the trust can explain what has gone on, can tell what the previous well-paid leadership did to protect local people, and, most importantly, whether the new regime has the procedures in place to ensure patients get the treatment they deserve.

Everyone obviously hopes that it has – but is that enough to restore public confidence when so much has gone wrong in the past?