UNISON: Stark warning over further £36 million cuts to mental health services

UNISON issues stark warning over further £36 million cuts to mental health services UNISON has reacted angrily to news today that the proposed financial recovery plan for Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust includes a further £36 million of cuts.  The Trust, which provides mental health services across Norfolk and Suffolk, has already made £44 […]

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BBC News: Mental health crisis care ‘inadequate’

Nick Triggle of the BBC reports: People who need urgent mental health care in England are receiving inadequate support, regulators say. The Care Quality Commission reviewed the help given to people in mental health crisis, which includes people who are suicidal, having serious panic attacks or psychotic episodes. The regulator said the system was “struggling

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Video: BBC News Exclusive Investigation – ‘Firefighting to keep patients alive’

‘Unprecedented failings’: ‘Firefighting to Keep Patients Alive’ An exclusive investigation of the crisis in mental health services in Norfolk and Suffolk on the national News at Six and Ten on BBC1 and the BBC News channel. Isn’t it shameful that the Board of Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT), led by a Chief Executive

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In NSFT’s words: Not the Six O’Clock News

From: NSFT Communications Subject: BBC broadcast on Trust being placed into special measures Dear colleagues, The BBC has just informed the Trust that the report, outlined below, will not be broadcast tonight but on another day this week, yet to be decided. I will keep you updated on their revised schedule. Michael Scott Chief Executive Here’s

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In NSFT’s words: BBC Six O’Clock News tonight on ‘redundancies, improvement programme, staff shortages, our financial position, and the disbanding of the Assertive Outreach Team’

From: NSFT Communications Subject: BBC broadcast on Trust being placed into special measures Dear colleagues, The BBC One 6 O’Clock News is scheduled to be broadcasting a story this evening (Tuesday, 2 June) about our Trust being placed into ‘special measures’ by the regulator, Monitor, following the inspection of our services by the Care Quality Commission

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Kept in the Dark: NHS England doesn’t even keep to its own deadlines

NHS England wrote to us a couple of weeks ago: I am sorry that the response to your internal review request is taking longer to complete than our standard and the understandable frustration this may be causing you. Further to your initial Internal Review request, the panel convened on 8 April 2015 and we hope

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Kept in the Dark: NHS England believes gossip and secrecy more important than public safety and transparency

We originally wrote to NHS England in September 2014 – more than seven months ago. Firstly, we wanted to discover what the chief architect of the radical redesign and Operations Director (Norfolk) of Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) was doing after Michael Scott emailed staff announcing her promotion to work for Geraldine Strathdee,

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BBC News: Increased use puts pressure on Norfolk and Waveney mental health trust

Nic Rigby of the BBC reports: A 38% increase in mental health patients referred to an NHS Trust has hit waiting times, a report has found. The increase in the Norfolk and Waveney area in the December 2014 to February 2015 period – compared with April to June 2014 – resulted in higher staff caseload

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Community Care: Mental health trust funding down 8% from 2010 despite coalition’s drive for parity of esteem

Norman Lamb called our campaign ‘mental health extremists‘ for simply pointing out that Norman Lamb claims to be a mental health champion whilst cutting mental health funding and services. Now the £600 million’s worth of Norman Lamb’s duplicity is clear for all to see. What kind of ‘drive for parity of esteem’ results in the

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EDP: Norfolk and Suffolk mental health chief’s salary soars by £35,000 to £175,000 – as service faces stringent budget cuts

Lauren Cope of the EDP reports: A mental health service under severe financial strain raised the salary of its chief executive by £35,000 – as its frontline NHS staff dealt with tough pay cuts. It has faced stringent budget cuts, with the average pay steadily falling from £26,557 in 2010/11 to £21,761 in 2013/14 –

EDP: Norfolk and Suffolk mental health chief’s salary soars by £35,000 to £175,000 – as service faces stringent budget cuts Read More »

Pay of Chief Executive of Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) increased by a quarter in the midst of mental health crisis

The average salary of staff at Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) fell by £4,796 (18%) in just three years from £26,557 to £21,761 between 2011 and 2014. Mental health services were trashed as part of the failed ‘radical redesign’ which resulted in NSFT being rated inadequate by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and Monitor

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Mind the Gap: Mental health charity Mind excludes election candidate, mental health service user and disability campaigner, Mick Hardy, from its mental health election panel

We’ve just receives this shocking press release from Mick Hardy, prospective parliamentary candidate in Norwich North for the Dandy Party and a founder member of the Campaign to Save Mental Health Services in Norfolk and Suffolk: Mental health charity Mind excludes election candidate, mental health service user and disability campaigner, Mick Hardy, from its mental

Mind the Gap: Mental health charity Mind excludes election candidate, mental health service user and disability campaigner, Mick Hardy, from its mental health election panel Read More »

The Times: Officials seize control of shamed trust

Bizarrely, this report leaves The Guardian as the only quality daily newspaper which has not reported on the crisis at Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT). For how long can what many regard as the natural newspaper of the caring professions ignore what is going on the constituency of the minister responsible for mental

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BBC News: Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust failed to act on 258 recommendations

Nic Rigby of the BBC reports: A mental health trust failed to act on 258 recommendations from 98 reviews into serious incidents, such as patient deaths, a report has revealed. Former Norfolk coroner William Armstrong said the trust’s failure to act was a “serious concern”. Serious incident reviews take place after there are unexpected or

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Audio: BBC Radio Suffolk interviews campaign member about CQC report and CAMHS crisis

Listen to Anne Humphreys, a carer and campaign member, talking from personal experience about the Care Quality Commission (CQC) rating of inadequate and the crisis in mental health services at Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT), with a particular focus on services for children and young people (CAMHS):   Anne and Bec have started

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BBC News: Norfolk and Suffolk health trust in special measures

Nic Rigby of the BBC reports: A mental health trust has become the first in England to be put in special measures. NHS regulator Monitor will send a team to take over the management of Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust. The decision comes after the Care Quality Commission (CQC) reported that the trust was

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EDP: Norfolk’s mental health service put in special measures

Tom Bristow of the EDP reports: Special measures will see the appointment of an “improvement director” to provide expertise and hold the trust to account, and arranging a partnership with a high-performing trust. Monitor has also imposed a new condition on NSFT’s licence, enabling the regulator to take further action, such as replacing members of

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Campaign Statement on Monitor putting NSFT into Special Measures

NSFT becoming the first mental health trust to be put into special measures was inevitable following the damning CQC inspection and the financial black hole. Our main concern is that service users and frontline staff are not made to pay the price of the NSFT Board’s wasted millions with further cuts to already inadequate services.

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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

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 Read More »

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