Observer: Beds crisis hits NHS care for mentally ill children

In the email seen by the Observer, which was sent on Friday on the instruction of national officials working for NHS England, the medical director for East Anglia, says: “I have just been asked to inform you all by the national specialist commissioning team of the current national lack of child and adolescent mental health […]

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EDP: A half-way house to privatisation?

Care minister Norman Lamb denied yesterday that mutuals were a step to privatisation, after campaigners claimed the NSFT could leave the NHS. But a spokesman for the Campaign to Save Mental Health Services in Norfolk and Suffolk, which put in the Freedom of Information request, said: “Staff are up in arms about this. It is

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EDP: Move to improve staff morale causes an upset

Tom Bristow of the EDP reports: But in a move which has done nothing for staff morale the trust suggested employing workers in low wage countries to talk to mental health patients over Skype, in its application to secure government funding to research the project. The NSFT’s full application for government money to explore becoming

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BBC News: Norfolk and Suffolk mental health Skype ‘outsourcing’ causes concern

 Emma Corlett, spokeswoman for Unison at the trust, said: “Our view of the report is that it shows whoever did the application did not have a very clear understanding of the work frontline staff do or the way face-to-face therapy works. “We want a skilled and well-paid workforce here and we should not be looking

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Kept in the Dark: NSFT’s Mutualisation Application Part I

1. WHAT IS YOUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE MAIN STRATEGIC CHALLENGES FACING YOUR ORGANISATION(S) AND HOW HAVE YOU ADDRESSED THESE TO DATE? 1. Challenge: Rising referrals, and falling revenues on historic block contracts, causing financial pressures. NSFT has demonstrated strategic leadership though implementing a merger of two previous trusts in 2012, and a full redesign and

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Kept in the dark: Some of NSFT’s ideas to improve staff engagement

Here are some of the ideas that the Board of Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) has told the Cabinet Office and the Department of Health it has planned to improve staff morale and engagement in its mutualisation proposals: “[NSFT] is now developing radical new plans to again reduce costs. These include a root-and-branch

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Kept in the dark: NSFT’s Board fails to share its intention to leave the NHS with its own Board of Governors, service users, carers and staff

Our initial consideration is converting the entire trust into a typical CIC. This would involve governance changes such as; refining our existing membership model (possibly reducing numbers to include only genuinely active members), a members board (replacing Governors) which will feed input into the main board, elected representatives of both members and of staff on the

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Ipswich Star: Campaign to Save Mental Health Services in Norfolk and Suffolk protests at meeting attended by Norman Lamb, the minister of state for care and support, in Saxmundham

Norman Lamb, the minister of state for care and support, was met by a dozen members of the Campaign to Save Mental Health Services in Norfolk and Suffolk during his visit to Saxmundham on Thursday. The group was started by frontline staff and service users in response to the cuts at the Norfolk and Suffolk

Ipswich Star: Campaign to Save Mental Health Services in Norfolk and Suffolk protests at meeting attended by Norman Lamb, the minister of state for care and support, in Saxmundham Read More »

Daily Mail: EXCLUSIVE: NHS more than DOUBLES spending on private beds for mental health patients after slashing hundreds of its own beds – to save money

“In some areas, bed cuts were drastic. One trust alone, Norfolk and Suffolk, axed 74 mental health beds from its stock of 322 in just two years – a cut of almost a quarter.” Local MP Norman Lamb must be so proud of Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) and his legacy as the

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Report: Lobbying South Norfolk Clinical Commissioning Group is a Trial…

“Someone must have had it in for Joseph K., for without having done anything wrong, he ended up representing the Campaign to Save Mental Health Services in Norfolk & Suffolk at South Norfolk Clinical Commissioning Group’s (CCG) Public Meeting on 13th January. Or rather he should say its meeting in public, for as he was

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Video: Dr Irene Lampert talking about the CAMHS Crisis at our Anniversary Open Meeting

Watch the video below. If you are an Apple user and have trouble viewing the embedded video you can view it directly on Youtube. Sorry, this issue is a sometime side effect of the on-going battle between Google and Apple. Thank you to Andrew Day of Equal Lives for capturing the event so well.

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Video: Mark Harrison of Equal Lives speaking at our Anniversary Open Meeting

Watch the video below. If you are an Apple user and have trouble viewing the embedded video you can view it directly on Youtube. Sorry, this issue is a sometime side effect of the on-going battle between Google and Apple. Thank you to Andrew Day of Equal Lives for capturing the event so well.

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URGENT: A rare opportunity to directly question Norman Lamb, local MP and the Minister directly responsible for mental health at the Department of Health at a PUBLIC MEETING on health and care issues on Thursday, 15 January 2015 at 7.30 p.m. Protest from 7 p.m.

There is a rare opportunity to question Norman Lamb this Thursday, 15 January, 1930 at the Market Hall, Saxmundham, IP17 1AF. We will be protesting beforehand from 1900 and then attending the meeting. It is vital that we challenge Norman Lamb over his government’s cuts to mental health, the disastrous reorganisation of the NHS which means

URGENT: A rare opportunity to directly question Norman Lamb, local MP and the Minister directly responsible for mental health at the Department of Health at a PUBLIC MEETING on health and care issues on Thursday, 15 January 2015 at 7.30 p.m. Protest from 7 p.m. Read More »

An open letter to NSFT, its Board of Governors and the CCGs: Why the Ashcroft contract should be ongoing

An open letter to NSFT, its Board of Governors and the CCGs Why the Ashcroft contract should be ongoing The Bed Crisis Over the last two years, there has been a serious shortage of acute inpatient provision. The number of patients placed out of area, in expensive private hospitals, has fluctuated constantly from a low

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Lobby NSFT Board of Governors Meeting: Thursday 8th January 2015, 1230, City Hall, Norwich NR2 1NH

We will be lobbying the Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) Board of Governors meeting tomorrow. Meet at 1230 on the City Hall steps. Some of us will also be attending the meeting which runs from 1300-1700 in the Council Chamber. Please join us. Despite mountains of paperwork, detailed terms of reference and long meetings,

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Financial Crisis: An apology to NSFT from the Campaign to Save Mental Health Services in Norfolk & Suffolk

“Last year, the Campaign to Save Mental Health Services in Norfolk & Suffolk accused Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) of having spent £7.3 million on redundancies in 2013/4 in the midst of a recruitment crisis which placed mental health services at severe risk. At the time, NSFT said our claims were ‘inaccurate’. It

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Petition: Asking Ipswich Coroner to hold an Inquest into how David Martin died

David Martin’s brother, Steve, writes: “There is significant doubt that bi-lateral pneumonia was a naturally occurring natural cause for David’s death.  Were multi agency failings and institutional neglect contributory factors to the sudden death of David?  Deadly cocktail of prescription drugs, filthy environment and an ineffective care plan. Do those agencies need to alter their

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Gallery: What care in the community can really look like

David’s story was told in a powerful piece of journalism by Nikki Fox on BBC Look East this evening. David died prematurely of pneumonia in squalor, without hot water or heating, aged only 52 years old in Ipswich, Suffolk. He deserved better. Please sign the petition demanding an inquest. David’s brother, Steve, writes: “The thing

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BBC News: Norfolk and Suffolk mental health trust spent £600,000 on out-of-area beds IN ONE MONTH

The BBC reports: Money spent on sending Norfolk and Suffolk mental health patients to other parts of England almost tripled last month to £600,000, new figures show. A spokesman for the Campaign to Save Mental Health Services in Norfolk and Suffolk said: “NSFT and the local clinical commissioning groups need to properly fund both inpatient

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