BBC News: Concern at rise in mental health patient deaths

Nic Rigby of the BBC reports: The number of Norfolk and Suffolk mental health patient deaths has gone up from four to six a month between 2013 and 2015, it has been revealed. The 50% increase in the average number of deaths, excluding deaths by natural causes or those drug-related, goes before a trust meeting […]

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EDP: Norfolk and Suffolk’s troubled mental health trust is not improving quickly enough

Nicholas Carding of the EDP reports: The region’s underfire mental health trust is not improving as quickly as hoped, according to a health watchdog’s leader for mental health. A letter seen by the EDP and Evening News, says the Care Quality Commission (CQC) are expecting to see “more progress at a quicker pace” from Norfolk

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Kept in the Dark: Video: BBC News: Cuts, Crisis and Cover-up at NSFT

A brave whistleblower tells Nikki Fox of the BBC that the crisis has not gone away; that the demand for mental health services still far exceeds clinical capacity; that the management of Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) appears to have little understanding of the scale of the problems. The Norwich South MP, Clive

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Video: Mustard TV: ‘It constantly feels like chaos’ – Damning staff report reveals extent of problems in our mental health trust

A damning report’s highlighted the challenges facing NHS staff looking after some of Norfolk’s most vulnerable patients. Unmanageable workloads, intolerable pressure and insufficient resources are just some of the issues raised in interviews with staff at the Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust. They argue a 40 million pound savings programme has decimated the service –

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Audio: Campaigner Emma Corlett of Unison interviewed on BBC Radio Suffolk about cuts of £36 million proposed by NSFT in Special Measures

Listen to Emma Corlett of Unison interviewed by Luke Deal of BBC Radio Suffolk on the subject of the absurd plans for a further £36 million of cuts at Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) on top of the £44 million of cuts which have seen, as a direct consequence, NSFT rated inadequate by

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EADT: Special report reveals huge rise in mental health cases in Suffolk

The number of children and adults referred into the Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust has gone up from 34,288 in 2010/11 to 44,574 in 2014/15, revealed in figures released to this newspaper under the Freedom of Information Act. At a time when more people are being referred into the trust, it is looking to

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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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Newsflash: File on 4: Minding the Gap: Mental healthcare on BBC Radio 4 at 8 p.m. on 19th May 2015

We’re working hard to bring the crisis in mental health services at Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) to national attention. The crisis isn’t over. The CCGs and NSFT promised there would be no out of area placements beyond April 2014. That promise broken, there is now a dangerous Waiting List of Shame to

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Mirror: Another Tory government will lead to a mental health services crisis, warn top health staff

Jason Beattie of the Daily Mirror reports: In a letter to the Daily Mirror more than 100 mental health workers say the Coalition have conducted a “sustained and vicious” attack on frontline services. “We believe that this has put any member of the public with mental health needs at serious risk. “We cannot continue to

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BBC News: More than 800 Norfolk mental health patients ‘unallocated’

Nic Rigby of the BBC reports: More than 800 vulnerable mental health patients in Norfolk have not been assigned care workers due to staffing shortages, a report has revealed. The 839 unallocated cases at Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust include 139 youth team cases. Unison said services at the trust had been “savagely cut”.

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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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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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Computer Weekly: Health trust proposed offshoring mental care through Skype

More coverage of the Skype proposal from NSFT. Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust’s innovative proposals have now even made it into the computer industry trade press. Click on the image below to read the full article:  

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EDP: A half-way house to privatisation?

Care minister Norman Lamb denied yesterday that mutuals were a step to privatisation, after campaigners claimed the NSFT could leave the NHS. But a spokesman for the Campaign to Save Mental Health Services in Norfolk and Suffolk, which put in the Freedom of Information request, said: “Staff are up in arms about this. It is

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EDP: Move to improve staff morale causes an upset

Tom Bristow of the EDP reports: But in a move which has done nothing for staff morale the trust suggested employing workers in low wage countries to talk to mental health patients over Skype, in its application to secure government funding to research the project. The NSFT’s full application for government money to explore becoming

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BBC News: Norfolk and Suffolk mental health Skype ‘outsourcing’ causes concern

 Emma Corlett, spokeswoman for Unison at the trust, said: “Our view of the report is that it shows whoever did the application did not have a very clear understanding of the work frontline staff do or the way face-to-face therapy works. “We want a skilled and well-paid workforce here and we should not be looking

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EDP: Mental health chief vows to improve staff morale as depression, stress and anxiety hits one in four sick workers

Emma Corlett, Unison steward at the NSFT, said: “The figures match what we have seen on the ground. “There are a number of factors that have impacted on staff, including significant loss of resources and the reorganisation of services. “The consequences of that was people applying for their own jobs and in some cases colleagues

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Video: BBC Look East interview mental health nurse Emma Corlett about Monitor’s investigation of NSFT

Watch the video below. If you are an Apple user and have trouble viewing the embedded video you can view it directly on Youtube. Sorry, this issue is a sometime side effect of the on-going battle between Google and Apple which is beyond our control.  

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Video: BBC Look East on Monitor’s Investigation into Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust

Watch the video below. If you are an Apple user and have trouble viewing the embedded video you can view it directly on Youtube. Sorry, this issue is a sometime side effect of the on-going battle between Google and Apple which is beyond our control.

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