EDP: Why was a sex offender placed on a mixed gender ward at mental health unit?

Kieran Lynch of the EDP reports: Miss Payne claimed in December 2011 that she had been raped by a fellow patient, but two months later was informed that police would not press charges. She was found dead the following day, an inquest in Norwich heard. At Wednesday’s hearing, Dr Bohdan Solomka, who was Miss Payne’s […]

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EADT: Mother of Sudbury’s Joe Ruler, 19, who killed himself at Wedgwood House is left ‘heartbroken’ that same mistakes still being made by NSFT mental health trust

Matt Reason of the EADT reports: The heartbroken mother of a Sudbury teenager who died in the care of a Suffolk mental health unit has claimed lessons have still not been learnt from her son’s death. Joe Ruler died five years ago at the Wedgwood House unit, in Bury St Edmunds, with an inquest last

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EDP: Health minister ‘immensely disappointed’ as Norwich hospital ditches staff-ownership plans

Tom Bristow of the EDP reports: Mr Lamb, MP for North Norfolk and care minister, suggested the [Norfolk & Norwich] hospital dropped its interest in becoming a mutual because it was under investigation by regulator Monitor for persistently missing waiting time targets. “It is immensely disappointing,” Mr Lamb said. “I obviously understand that they are

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Daily Telegraph: Whistleblowing: NHS crushes those who speak out, Sir Robert Francis QC warns

Laura Donnelly of the Daily Telegraph reports: Sir Robert believes that many of the worst failings in the NHS occur when clinical staff become powerless — are left “shrugging their shoulders” rather than challenging poor care. As he made a public call for evidence, he told The Telegraph that he feared too many had been hounded out

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BBC: Rape claim mental health patient ‘took own life’ at Norwich hospital

A woman on suicide watch at a mental health unit in Norwich killed herself after reporting she had been raped by a male patient, an inquest has heard. We wrote about the impact of cuts and inadequate/bank staffing on safety in secure services at Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) more than a year

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Kept in the Dark: BBC exclusively reports that Norman Lamb’s own acute trust abandons his mutuality Pathfinder programme

In an email to Unison, leaked to the BBC, the hospital’s head of communications Fiona Devine said: “Our particular interest in the project was to learn from others about their experience of enhanced staff engagement and the potential result in benefits for patients. “Since then, we have received further information about the project… in light

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Kept in the Dark: Saturday 7th February at 10.30 a.m. – Campaign talking about NSFT ‘mutualisation’ at the Curve, the Forum, Norwich NR2 1TF

We will be speaking alongside Professor Sue Richards, National Co-Chair of Keep Our NHS Public and retired surgeon Anna Atthow. Please join us. Norfolk Keep our NHS Public Public Meeting 7th Feb @10.30am in the Curve, The Forum, Norwich Who Owns our NHS? Our NHS is steadily being destroyed. Since 2010, £10 billion of contracts have been

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Community Care: Vulnerable man was failed by two NHS trusts days before he died, finds watchdog

Andy McNicoll reports: A man who had expressed suicidal thoughts was failed by two NHS trusts in the days before he was found dead in a river, an investigation by the health service ombudsman has found. Stephen Foster, 48, was found dead on 23 June 2011. Today, the ombudsman published the findings of an investigation

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EADT Editorial: A sad lesson in how to get it so very, very wrong

A sad lesson in how to get it so very, very wrong So, those who suggested the emperor was parading naked, and not clad in new finery, have been proved right. The very birth of the Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust was accompanied by a chorus of warnings: about jobs; about finance; and – crucially – about care. Critics

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Daily Telegraph: Special measures threat for Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust

The Daily Telegraph reports on the CQC Inspection of Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT). The Telegraph also carries a link to the Aidan ‘I’m no Dirty Den’ Thomas email story which will bring back difficult memories to many readers, especially employees of NSFT and Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust (CPFT). Click on

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Daily Mail: Health trust shamed for dangerously restraining its patients: Body faces being put in special measures after using technique that can be fatal

Rosie Taylor of the Daily Mail reports: A mental health trust where patients have been punished with a dangerous form of restraint faces being put into special measures. Inspectors found serious problems at the body that oversees mental health services in Norfolk and Suffolk. These included patients being held in the face-down prone position and

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CQC Report: Shocking leadership, morale and staff engagement at NSFT

This is shocking. How could Norman Lamb even consider handing ownership of mental health services in Norfolk and Suffolk to these people? Leadership, morale and staff engagement The board had some significant changes over the past year. There was a relatively new chair who had been in post just over a year. The chief executive was

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BBC News: Norfolk and Suffolk mental health services branded ‘inadequate’

A spokesman for the Campaign to Save Mental Health in Norfolk and Suffolk said: “The regulator confirms what our campaign has consistently said for more than a year.” Click on the image below to read Nic Rigby’s full article on the BBC News website.

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EDP: Norfolk and Suffolk mental health service faces being put into special measures for “inadequate” leadership and safety

The region’s under-fire mental health service should be put into special measures, the chief inspector of hospitals said today, after a highly-critical report branded the trust “inadequate”. Regulator the Care Quality Commission (CQC) rated Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust (NSFT) as “inadequate” overall in a damning report today, following an inspection in October last year.

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CQC: Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust is Inadequate

We rated Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust as inadequate overall because: We found that there was not a safe, effective or responsive service at this trust and the board needs to take urgent action to address areas of inadequacy. While the board and senior management had a vision with strategic objectives in place staff did not feel fully engaged

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EDP: Family of man who jumped to his death from Norwich’s Castle Mall agree settlement with mental health service

Matthew Dunham, 25, was suffering from depression when he jumped from the shopping mall on May 9 2013. His family and the Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust (NSFT) have settled a claim out of court, lawyers said today, after the trust admitted failures “materially contributed to the deceased taking his own life”. At an inquest

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

3. WHAT IS YOUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE LEVELS OF STAFF ENGAGEMENT IN YOUR ORGANISATION(S) AND THE MAIN CHALLENGES YOU CURRENTLY FACE TO IMPROVING THIS? Our staff engagement data is currently poor; NSFT scored very poorly in the 2013 NHS Staff survey, being in the bottom 20% of participants on many measures. Our overall staff engagement

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Guardian: NHS mental health care ‘pushed to breaking point by lack of beds’

The lack of acute beds available to mental health patients has left the system at breaking point, the Royal College of Psychiatrists has said. Illustrating the scale of the problem, the college said it understood that on one occasion last year there were no beds available for adults in England. It called for action to

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Mirror: NHS crisis: Teen mental health patients put on ADULT wards in bed shortage

NHS England, a leaked email reveals, have told regional health bosses the shortage of beds is so bad that older teenagers are set to be admitted to adult wards The NHS beds crisis plumbed new depths as hospitals were advised to put teenage mental health patients onto adult wards. NHS England, a leaked email reveals,

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

2. WHAT DO YOU SEE AS THE MAIN BENEFITS OF THE MUTUAL MODEL IN ADDRESSING THE STRATEGIC CHALLENGES IDENTIFIED AT (1) ABOVE AND ON IMPROVING SERVICES TO PATIENTS? 1. Benefit: Employee engagement and morale. NAViGO (a mental health services mutual) reduced staff absence from 6.8% to <3% in the two years after mutualising, and has

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