EDP Front Page Exclusive: Passed from Pillar to Post

More excellent investigative reporting from Nicholas Carding of the EDP, showing how people in crisis from Norfolk and Suffolk are being transported across the country due to a chronic lack of beds. We’re deeply concerned that some people in crisis are not getting a hospital bed at all. Let’s not forget that NSFT and North […]

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EDP: Union backs Mental Health Watch campaign – and highlights ongoing concerns in Norfolk and Suffolk

David Powles of the EDP reports: Bosses of the trust used their recent AGM to proclaim of turning a corner, but Ms Corlett says while some things have improved – there’s a long way to go before staff feel that is the case. She explained: “A lot of staff still feel angry about how change

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EDP Front Page Exclusive: Number of deaths at Norfolk and Suffolk mental health service surges

Nick Carding of the EDP reports exclusively: Campaigners say their “worst fears have been confirmed” after it emerged that the number of unexpected deaths of mental health patients in the region is continuing to rise. Figures published by the region’s mental health trust show more patients died unexpectedly in the first half of this financial

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BBC News: Mental health death after Norfolk and Suffolk trust failure

Nic Rigby of the BBC reports: A mental health patient died after a “failure” to respond in a “timely way” by a stretched health trust team, a report says. The Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust report said there were “serious capacity issues” with its crisis resolution team. It says another death occurred after a patient

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Health Service Journal: The worrying truth about mental health services: The King’s Fund on NSFT’s failure

Helen Gilburt, a fellow in health policy at The King’s Fund, writes: The example of Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust provides a stark reminder of the risks associated with undertaking whole-system transformation at scale and pace. To pre-empt increased financial risk and deliver efficiency savings, the trust engaged in delivering a vision of implementing recovery-orientated

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Kept in the Dark: Artist’s Impression of chart showing increasing unexpected deaths among those who rely on NSFT

We challenged Gary Page, the Chair of Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT), to publish NSFT’s data on unexpected deaths after his report to the NSFT Board stated he was “concerned” at the increase in unexpected community deaths from 95 in 2013-14 to 130 in 2014-15. On the same day Gary Page refused to publish,

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Gallery: Slides from Public Meeting: What is happening at NSFT? Do we still need a campaign?

You can view the presentation in the Gallery below or download the slides as a pdf to view offline, distribute or print.   The sources of the employment data are the various Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) Annual Report and Accounts published between 2011 and 2015. The sources of the Serious Incident (SI)

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The Guardian: Rise in Mental Health Act detentions shows ‘services struggling to cope’

Aisha Gani and James Meikle of The Guardian report: Official figures say detentions under the Act have risen nearly 10% in a year, causing concern among charities that services are failing to act early. Mental health campaigners have expressed concern that detentions under the Mental Health Act have risen by almost 10% in England in

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Carer’s letter to the Guardian: ‘Will it be my relative next?’

15th October 2015 Despite family pleas for appropriate treatment, a long term user of Norfolk’s mental health services cut her own throat today.  Visited by a Social worker yesterday, she was “placed on the waiting list for assessment under the Mental Health Act” because when last seen she was observed to be suffering harrowing hallucinations

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A funeral every ten days: Campaign statement on the increase in deaths in the community

“Ours is a moral campaign, founded in November 2013 by mental health staff deeply concerned about cuts and service closures at NSFT and what they believed was a cluster of preventable deaths caused by the so-called ‘radical redesign’ process. Those brave staff have been joined by more than two thousand users of mental health services,

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Fiscal Fantasy Island: NSFT spends record £2.42 million on temporary staff as out of area bed days nearly double

Having wasted £17.25 million of taxpayers’ money getting rid of staff it needed, Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) spent nearly £2.5 million on temporary staff in May alone. This is a new record, even for NSFT. 68 per cent of this expenditure was on expensive agency staff and the reliance on temporary staff

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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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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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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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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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Video: itv NEWS Anglia – Mental Health Trust condemned as inadequate

Norman Lamb MP appears on itv NEWS Anglia as a campaigner, a self-proclaimed mental health champion: “It is misguided to think that you can reduce spending in mental health and not expect consequences to that” So, who is the Minister of State at the Department of Health directly responsible for mental health who has overseen

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Community Care: Mental health trust should face special measures over ‘inadequate’ safety and leadership, says CQC

We were all delighted to meet Andy McNicoll, deservedly Mind Mental Health Journalist of the Year, at our campaign meeting yesterday. Ethical investigative journalism is a critical component in our campaign and Andy McNicoll’s work with the BBC’s Michael Buchanan has been of the highest quality. In November 2013 a campaign led by frontline staff

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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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