Fiscal Fantasy Island: NSFT spends over half its Out Of Trust Acute (OOA) Beds budget in first two months of the year

The number of out of trust acute (OOA) bed days has nearly doubled: from 332 days in April 2016 to 647 days in May 2016. Most of these patients are being sent to the expensive, remote and private Mundesley Hospital, where it seems that none of the medical staff have passed the exams of the Royal […]

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RSA Norwich: The Road to Hell is Paved with Good Intentions

Terry Skyrme reflects on the recent RSA mental health event in Norwich: “Campaign supporters held a protest outside an event organized by the RSA at St Michael’s church in Norwich. Speakers at the event represented the “Third sector” and other mainstream services such as Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT), the main provider of

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The Norwich Radical: The Elephant in the Room: Norfolk’s Mental Health Crisis

Hannah Rose reports in The Norwich Radical from the recent RSA event: Instead, I was perturbed by the oddly formal sense of occasion — cheese and wine were offered on arrival — and I was given instructions to mingle. I had the distinct feeling that I was definitely at the wrong meeting. Only around fifty chairs

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NSFT – A Warning from History: Unexpected deaths: 2013 vs 2016: Has anything changed?

Compare what Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) claimed in 2013 with what NSFT claims in 2016. What has changed except that NSFT suffered 45 unexpected deaths in the first three months of 2016 compared with 22 per quarter in 2012-13? While the number of deaths has doubled, the excuses remain the same. Most

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Help: Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspecting NSFT in July 2016

CQC, the independent regulator of health, mental health and adult social care in England will be inspecting Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust the week beginning the 11th July.  They would like to hear feedback about mental health services before the inspection. There are a number of ways people can feedback their views (CQC are

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Protest: RSA: “Throwing money we don’t have at a problem that just won’t go away is not the answer.”

Tomorrow evening, on Tuesday 7th June 2016, we will be protesting at the failure to invite service users, carers and professionals to an event the purpose of which is said to be finding ‘affordable, innovative new solutions’ to mental health. We will be assembling outside St Michael at Plea in Norwich from 5.45 p.m. A

Protest: RSA: “Throwing money we don’t have at a problem that just won’t go away is not the answer.” Read More »

Invitation: 6th June 2016: Meeting with NSFT about unexpected deaths at 6 p.m. today at Hellesdon Hospital

We’re meeting the Director of Nursing, Jane Sayer, and the Medical Director, Bohdan Solomka, of Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) to discuss the extremely disappointing report into the alarming increase in unexpected deaths at NSFT to a record number. Worse still, the number of unexpected deaths continues to rise but NSFT remains complacent: there

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Complaint letter: “Don’t campaign to save… campaign for a radically different new service… with entirely new management”

A service user of Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) writes: “I am a user of this service for more than fifteen years. In the last four years the service as become unacceptably poor. I have plenty of evidence. Although I agree that services have to be defended in as much as good levels

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BBC News: Norfolk & Suffolk trust records its highest number of unexpected mental health deaths

The BBC reports: An NHS mental health service, which was the first in England to be placed in special measures, has recorded its highest number of unexpected deaths. Norfolk & Suffolk Foundation Trust (NSFT) recorded 157 deaths in 2014-15, compared to 88 deaths in 2012-13. Verita, which the trust instructed to carry out the investigation,

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Kept in the Dark: Should we expect the ‘independent inquiry’ into unexpected deaths at NSFT to be a whitewash?

The ‘independent inquiry’ into unexpected deaths at Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) is being published on Thursday, 26th May 2016 at the NSFT board meeting at Hellesdon Hospital, Norwich. The board meeting starts at 0930. Why not join us? So, should we expect a whitewash? Well, sadly, given our previous experience of being

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Sometimes ‘the noise’ is just too much: Speech for the minute’s silence outside Castle Mall on March for Mental Health

Jessica Goldfinch gave an incredibly powerful and moving speech before the minute’s silence outside Castle Mall in Norwich on our March for Mental Health. Many people were moved to tears, some of them the bereaved. Others couldn’t hear Jessica speak as well as they would have liked, given that six hundred people turned up on

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Yet another death: Enough is enough

Today, another young women has died after Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) ignored her family’s desperate pleas for help. Yet another ‘unexpected death‘ to add to the statistics. Yet another inquest. For how much longer can the NHS be allowed to let down families in East Anglia in their hours of greatest need?

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EDP: Protesters in King’s Lynn fight against mental health service cuts

Sophie Biddle of the EDP reports: More than 100 campaigners pounded the pavements from The Walks and through the town centre before finishing outside the Majestic Cinema to hear speeches. The protest was triggered by the Fermoy Centre, an in-patient NHS facility for mental health, facing closure. Beth Anthony, 18 of Dersingham, is youth officer

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EDP: “We are long way off parity of esteem” – shadow mental health minister Luciana Berger hits out at government during visit to region

Nicholas Carding of the Eastern Daily Press reports on our meeting with Luciana Berger, Shadow Cabinet Minister for Mental Health and Clive Lewis, MP for Norwich South: A senior politician today said parity of esteem is still not occuring within the NHS. Ms Berger, MP for Liverpool Wavertree, met with members of Save Mental Health

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Monitor: NSFT placed 223rd in NHS Learning from Mistakes League table

The regulators of NHS trusts, Monitor and the NHS Trust Development Authority, have published their Learning from Mistakes League table. The Chief Executive of Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT), Michael Scott, has repeatedly tried to explain unexpected patient deaths nearly tripling by claiming that NSFT is a ‘high reporter’ with an open culture:

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itv NEWS Anglia: Are mental health services in the East improving?

Victoria Lampard of itv NEWS Anglia reports: Sophie Liddament’s friend in Norfolk was eventually admitted to hospital for treatment but she says it took five suicide attempts in one week to get her there. “The last one left her fighting for her life. I was like I can’t do this anymore. You’re just going to go

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BBC News: Investigation of mental health deaths in Norfolk and Suffolk to report in May

The BBC reports: An NHS trust caring for mentally ill people in Norfolk and Suffolk is to carry out an independent review of unexplained deaths. Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) has appointed Verita to examine how the deaths are dealt with. The trust had 129 such deaths in 2014-15 – up from 61

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BBC News: Mental health deaths in Norfolk and Suffolk prompts investigation

BBC News reports: An NHS mental health trust has announced it is commissioning an investigation into the rising number of unexpected deaths of patients. The Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust had 129 such deaths (2014-15) – up from 61 (2012-13) and higher than other mental health trusts in the UK. Michael Scott, chief executive

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EDP: Let’s hope lives can be saved

Another astonishingly powerful front page from Nicholas Carding, Health Correspondent of the Eastern Daily Press, as part of its Mental Health Watch campaign. Buy a copy of the EDP and support the high quality local investigative journalism which is so important to our campaign. The article isn’t available online but you can buy an E-edition

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EDP: Norfolk & Suffolk mental health trust launches ‘desperately needed’ probe into number of patient deaths

Tom Bristow of the EDP reports: An independent inquiry into the rise of unexpected deaths at the region’s mental health trust will be carried out after it emerged figures for Norfolk and Suffolk were the highest in the country. The announcement came on the same day as we revealed there were a total of 35

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