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 […]

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 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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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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EDP Editorial: This practice is terrible, so why is it still happening?

This practice is terrible, so why is it still happening? Doctors, patients and politicians all agree that sending people with mental health problems hundreds of miles away to get a bed is an awful idea. These patients are travelling to other parts of the country not for specialist treatment but simply because there is no space for them in Norfolk and

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Audio: Crisis in services for children (CAMHS) is the lead interview on BBC Radio Norfolk Breakfast

Campaign members Dr. Irene Lampert, consultant child psychiatrist, and Terry Skyrme, Approved Mental Health Professional (AMHP), are interviewed by Nicky Price of the BBC about the cuts and crisis in mental health services for children and young people (CAMHS). CAMHS services at Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust suffered the largest cuts in England according

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Sheringham Independent: Skyrme vs. Lamb

Terry Skyrme of the Campaign, who lives in Norman Lamb’s North Norfolk constituency, gives Lamb a roasting: We in the Campaign to save Mental Health Services in Norfolk and Suffolk find it hard to stomach Norman Lamb’s continuous efforts to present himself as the champion of the mentally ill. He has been a Health Minister

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Meltdown: Working as a community nurse at NSFT

“I work as a Community Mental Health Nurse for Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) and each week at work becomes more unbearable for so many reasons. Caseloads are unmanageably high with constant pressure from managers to take more cases that are being referred in on a daily basis. There is pressure to take

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10-bed Assessment Unit fiasco: Can it get worse?

Several supporters have been in touch. They tell us that while Nic Rigby’s report of the rejection of the opening of the 10-bed Assessment Unit is accurate, it is quite conservative in the conclusions it draws. We have also been sent by several sources the relevant sections of the Investment Committee (IC) report submitted by

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The Guardian: Inmate suicide figures expose human toll of prison crisis

This important story details the human cost of the failure to provide proper care in the prison system for those with mental health issues and is a must-read in its own right. However, as a campaign, we have been hearing from Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) staff about ill people being locked in

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Audio: NSFT Deputy Director of Nursing tries to resolve ‘dire’ Waveney strike staffing crisis by ringing wrong person

Listen as the Deputy Director of Nursing at Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT), Michelle Allott, mistakenly rings a campaign supporter who left NSFT more than a year ago as she attempts to resolve a ‘dire’ crisis as ward and CRHT staff at Carlton Court wholeheartedly support the NHS strike:  

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Campaign response to HealthEast decision to close beds at Carlton Court

Here is our response to Andy Evans, Chief Executive of Great Yarmouth & Waveney CCG (HealthEast), following the disastrous decision to close beds at Carlton Court: Mr Andy Evans Great Yarmouth & Waveney Clinical Commissioning Group Beccles House 1 Common Lane North Beccles, Suffolk NR34 9BN 1 October 2014 Dear Mr. Evans, Following your disastrous

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25th September 2014: Cardboard City Protest at HealthEast CCG meeting deciding the fate of Carlton Court

Great Yarmouth and Waveney Clinical Commissioning Group (HealthEast) is making its decision about Carlton Court on Thursday 25th September, 2014. The meeting starts at 1.30 p.m. but we’ll be holding a demonstration beforehand from 1 p.m – the theme is lack of beds, so bring along a big cardboard box and a sleeping bag for

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What’s happening at Carlton Court? How different is it to what NSFT proposed and the public opposed?

Great Yarmouth & Waveney CCG (HealthEast) has set out recommendations this week for the future of mental health services after its public consultation. We are grateful to HealthEast for being the only one of Norfolk’s five clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) to hold a public consultation. Let’s look at the facts: Acute adult services at Carlton

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Community Care: Why I’m retiring from social work to fight the cuts damaging our service’

Click the image below to read Terry Skyrme’s letter in Community Care, explaining why he has decided to retire from the mental health frontline to fight the damaging cuts to services.

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BBC: Campaign hero Terry Skyrme interviewed about crisis and retirement

Nic Rigby reports: Terry Skyrme said when he joined the mental health service in Norfolk, the county had one of the best outreach teams (working with people with mental health) in the country. Mr Skyrme, 68, who has been a social worker since 1972, said he was once proud of the “fantastic” service provided by

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Lowestoft Journal: Demonstrators gather outside Carlton Court to protest at mental health cuts

Kathryn Bradley of the Lowestoft Journal reports: The group was cheered on by visitors and staff entering the hospital grounds. During the event, Mr Skyrme said NSFT was also proposing to cut Section 136 suites at Carlton Court and throughout Norfolk and replace them with a single unit at Hellesdon. The suites are used to assess

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BBC News: Norfolk and Suffolk mental health unit waits of 22 hours ‘not acceptable’

Nic Rigby of the BBC reports: Patients having to wait up to 22 hours in mental health assessment suites in Norfolk and Suffolk is “unacceptable”, leading experts have said. A BBC Freedom of Information request found that between January and July, seven patients had to wait more than 15 hours and three more than 20.

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Gallery: Carlton Court demonstration Saturday 13th September 2014

Mental health services across Norfolk and Suffolk need more beds not fewer. The people of Waveney need a local hospital, section 136 suite and crisis team. Many of the people who use Carlton Court are not local but come from across Norfolk and Suffolk. We cannot allow the destruction of an integrated mental health care system and

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Saturday 13th September: Demonstrate to Save Carlton Court

Mental health services across Norfolk and Suffolk need more beds not fewer. The people of Waveney need a local hospital, section 136 suite and crisis team. Many of the people who use Carlton Court are not local but come from across Norfolk and Suffolk. We cannot allow the destruction of an integrated mental health care

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