IT has a lower profile than the investigations into organ retention at Alder Hey, or Dr Shipman's deadly dispatches.

Yet The Kerr/Haslam Inquiry tackles the same problems - doctors who believed they were all-powerful and untouchable, and an impotent NHS management which stimulated their delusions.

There is a key difference about this latest medical scandal, however. The victims are still alive, finally able to see their tormentors' reputation sliced into ribbons with forensic skill in 955 pages. We hope they enjoy a precious glow of vindication, after so many years being disbelieved and dismissed.

These were women who were at their most vulnerable. Many placed their mind and soul into the hands of William Kerr or Michael Haslam. But these were not healing hands. Outwardly, Kerr and Haslam were everything you would wish from a psychiatrist. They both exuded an air of respectability and expertise.

But they used and abused their patients for self-gratification. Underneath the veneer of the skilled consultant lurked the caveman.

As shocking as the doctors' relentless abuse of patient trust was the way the medical establishment studiously ignored it. Repeated rumours and complaints were disregarded. Only one person had the guts to be a persistent whistle-blower, and her career has suffered as a result.

Mercifully, much has improved in mental health provision during the last 30 years. But the inquiry found "substantial risks" remain. The Government must implement its 70-plus recommendations to profoundly change our health service for the better.

Updated: 10:27 Tuesday, July 19, 2005