Public Campaign Meeting: 7 p.m. Tuesday 18th March 2014 at Suffolk One, Scrivener Drive IPSWICH IP8 3SU

Public Campaign Meeting Tuesday 18th March 7pm Suffolk One, Scrivener Drive, IPSWICH IP8 3SU Did you know: Mentally ill people are sent out of county because there are no beds free in Suffolk? Suffolk’s Early Intervention in Psychosis teams have been scrapped? Specialist Assertive Outreach intervention teams are being abolished at a time of rising […]

Public Campaign Meeting: 7 p.m. Tuesday 18th March 2014 at Suffolk One, Scrivener Drive IPSWICH IP8 3SU Read More »

4th Day of Lent: Going without mandatory training required for professional registration

Peter writes: “I am significantly out of date for essential training updates which are a legal requirement for my continuing professional registration. I’ve had training requests repeatedly ignored in order that ‘the ward’ is not left unsafely staffed. Missing out on key training on use of the defibrillator, the prevention and management of aggression, safeguarding

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Letter from Approved Mental Health Practitioners (AMHPs) of Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) to North Norfolk CCG

The recipients of this letter were North Norfolk Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) with copies to Great Yarmouth & Waveney CCG (Healtheast), Norwich CCG, Norman Lamb – Minister of State for Care and Support and MP for North Norfolk, Harold Bodmer – Director of Adult Care Social Services at Norfolk County Council and the Care Quality Commission

Letter from Approved Mental Health Practitioners (AMHPs) of Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) to North Norfolk CCG Read More »

Recruitment crisis: NSFT forced to try to recruit in Ireland & Portugal having spent £7.3 million on redundancies in 2013/4

“NSFT is facing unprecedented challenges around recruitment, meaning a significant change in our approach is required. In January 2014, the Director of Nursing and Governance reported to the Board on a number of specific services that were experiencing unusual events or circumstances. The Board were made aware that these events were impacting on clinical quality. One

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Campaign governors needed at NSFT

The governing body of the Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) has failed to properly scrutinise the non-executive directors of the Trust and does not reflect the opinions of the majority of its stakeholders. This failure of corporate governance is an important factor in the worsening crisis in mental health services in Norfolk and

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BBC: Mental health patients ‘failed’ says report on Hellesdon Hospital

North Norfolk MP and health minister Norman Lamb said: “The CQC has found that the hospital is sometimes failing to respect privacy, dignity and independence. It is now critical that the trust responds with a genuine sense of urgency to rectify the concerns raised by the CQC.” Emma Corlett, Unison union spokeswoman for staff at

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EDP: Mental health trust says improvements have already been made after critical Hellesdon Hospital inspection

After the publication of a highly critical report from the Care Quality Commission (CQC), the Director of Nursing, Quality & Patient Safety of Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) is now claiming that NSFT has ‘taken urgent steps’ to put the problems right. The Director of Nursing claims that ‘We have already taken steps to recruit

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Audio: Emma Corlett of Unison and the Campaign interviewed on BBC Radio Norfolk with NSFT Operations Director over CQC Inspection Failure

Listen as the Operations Director of Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) tries to claim that the Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) concerns are limited to the signing of Care Plans and waiting times in Access & Assessment. Read the excerpts from the CQC report to discover that the CQC’s concerns are far wider and deeper

Audio: Emma Corlett of Unison and the Campaign interviewed on BBC Radio Norfolk with NSFT Operations Director over CQC Inspection Failure Read More »

Video: Emma Corlett of Unison and the Campaign interviewed on BBC Look East as NSFT fails CQC inspection at Hellesdon Hospital

It isn’t surprising that the Care Quality Commission (CQC) identified many of the issues about which we have been campaigning for many months. Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) cannot, however, call the CQC claims ‘inaccurate’ or ‘inflammatory’ as it has done to this campaign’s raising of the same problems. Only NSFT could call

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Excerpts from CQC Report & EDP: Urgent action needed after inspection finds Hellesdon Hospital is failing patients

The full CQC report can be downloaded as a pdf. Some excerpts, which can be summarised as: lack of community staff, lack of beds and organisational chaos. If this is the situation now, what will it be like at the end of March when more than one quarter of community team staff will have been

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Live Tweets record of Great Yarmouth & Waveney CCG & NSFT Public ‘Consultation’

Find below a record of our live Twitter coverage of the Great Yarmouth & Waveney CCG and Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) public ‘consultation.’ We distributed about 100 copies of an open letter written by NSFT nurses in Norwich caring for people from Great Yarmouth & Waveney which exposes this ‘consultation’ as a sham.

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Audio: Extremely powerful interview of Emma Corlett of Unison and Campaign on BBC Norfolk Breakfast Show

This powerful and in-depth interview was on early this morning but should be compulsory listening for all those concerned about mental healthcare in Norfolk & Suffolk:     It is astonishing and illuminating that Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT), with more than one thousand administrators, a large in-house Comms Team and a Board

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Norwich Free Advertiser: NSFT vacancies at Norvic Clinic, Thorpe St Andrew, Hammerton Court, Norwich and the Fermoy Unit, King’s Lynn

You couldn’t make this up. While NSFT plans to spend £7.3 million on redundancies, it is running expensive press advertisements desperately trying to recruit temporary staff via NHS Professionals. Thanks to the campaign supporter who spotted this press advertisement and sent it to us. Let us know if you see any more – is NSFT

Norwich Free Advertiser: NSFT vacancies at Norvic Clinic, Thorpe St Andrew, Hammerton Court, Norwich and the Fermoy Unit, King’s Lynn Read More »

HOSC: What has gone wrong with the ‘radical redesign? at NSFT

The original pdf version can be downloaded here. A contribution to Norfolk County Council’s Health Overview & Scrutiny Committee from the Campaign to save Mental Health Services in Norfolk & Suffolk January 2014 “Worldly wisdom teaches that it is better for reputation to fail conventionally than to succeed unconventionally” John Maynard Keynes, The General Theory

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Response to NSFT’s letter refuting the Campaign’s Open Letter of 25/11/13

The Trust responded to our Campaign’s Open Letter of 25/11/13 with a letter circulated to Trust Governors and partner organisations (but not us) which attempted to refute our contention that the service is in crisis, and alleging certain inaccuracies in our statement. It should be pointed out that not one member of front-line staff, service users

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EADT: Mental health campaigners hit back over cuts (and NSFT insults Campaign again)

Emma Corlett says: “The whole point of the campaign was that people were brave enough to come forward and talk about their experiences. So for someone to come forward and say it is not true is quite offensive. We are keen for them [NSFT] to engage with the campaign and hear from people the reality

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On the twelfth day of Christmas, the cuts took away… health & safety

‘Sarah’ tell us her experiences: I have worked for the NHS for over 30 years and have been a union health and safety representative for almost as long. My role is to try to ensure that Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) is a safe and secure place for everyone who works and receives

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On the tenth day of Christmas, NSFT said… ‘Welcome to Hell’

It can be terrifying to work in NSFT’s medium secure facilities at the moment. ‘Fred’ tells us what it is like: “The cuts have been having a worsening impact upon secure services.  There have been ward closures and staffing cuts in forensic psychiatry too. This is my story. Recently, the working environment has started to get

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