Video: BBC iPlayer: Panorama: Revealed: Britain’s Mental Health Crisis

One month after prime minister Theresa May promised to ‘transform the way we deal with mental health problems right across society’, reporter Sophie Hutchinson investigates the troubled state of NHS mental health services. She hears the concerns of staff and patients at the first mental health trust in England to be placed in special measures, […]

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Radical Redesign Heroes: Where are the TSSers now? Part 6: Norman Lamb, North Norfolk MP and Minister of State at the Department of Health responsible for mental health

Norman Lamb, the Liberal Democrat MP for North Norfolk, was directly responsible for mental health as the Coalition’s Minister of State at the Department of Health from September 2012 until the general election in May 2015 when the number of Liberal Democrat MPs was reduced from 57 to eight. After the general election, Norman Lamb failed in his

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No More Daves: EADT: David Martin’s inquest begins in Ipswich – amid reports from BBC Panorama of 50% increase in ‘unexpected’ mental health deaths

Andrew Hirst of the East Anglian Daily Times reports: The family of an mentally-ill man who died amid filth and squalor in Ipswich are hoping for answers at this week’s long-awaited inquest. David Martin was discovered dead in his Ipswich flat on September 11, 2014 – four days after his 52nd birthday. Pneumonia was listed

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Radical Redesign Heroes: Where are the TSSers now? Part 3: Maggie Wheeler, Chair, NSFT

Because of her then status in the Norwich Labour Party, and the frequent use of politically-correct buzzwords like ‘recovery’ and ‘ImROC’, many people trusted Maggie Wheeler and her Board when it promised ‘new services will be as effective as they are now, if not better’ as a result of the Trust Service Strategy (TSS) at Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT), better

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EDP: Private Sussex hospital Priory Ticehurst put East Anglia teenager in a room with disturbing messages from former patients

Nicholas Carding of the Eastern Daily Press reports: A 16-year old has described her stay in a private hospital where former teenage patients had left messages encouraging self-harm and assault on her room’s wall. Her room was completely bare – containing nothing but a sheetless bed and a window. She sat on the bed, mentally

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EDP: Bed shortage means dozens of mental health patients are still being sent miles from Norfolk and Suffolk for treatment – three years after pledge

Nicholas Carding of the Eastern Daily Press reports: The region’s mental health trust is set to spend nearly £3m more than budgeted on treating patients at other facilities this year, this newspaper can reveal. In April just 26 days were spent by NSFT patients at hospitals outside Norfolk and Suffolk, but by the end of

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Radical Redesign Heroes: Where are the TSSers now? Part 2: Aidan Thomas, Chief Executive, NSFT

Aidan ‘I’m No Dirty Den’ Thomas was the Chief Executive of Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) during the Trust Service Strategy (TSS) consultation process, better known as the ‘radical redesign’. The ‘radical redesign’ was condemned by the King’s Fund in the Health Service Journal (HSJ) and is widely regarded as an unmitigated disaster which resulted in

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EDP: Norfolk and Suffolk NHS trust fined £366k after 78-year-old patient drowned in hospital bath

Christine Cunningham of the Eastern Daily Press reports: A Norfolk and Suffolk NHS trust has been fined £366,000 for health and safety failings after a 78-year-old patient was found drowned in a bath on a hospital ward. Joan Darnell, who had dementia and bipolar disorder, had been taken from her home in Field Grange, Lowestoft,

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CAMHS Crisis: BBC News: Norfolk and Suffolk NHS mental health facility has empty beds

Nikki Fox of the BBC reports: Mental health campaigners are “incredulous” five beds for children are unused when 20 patients are being treated “out of the area”. Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) created a 12-bed unit in Lowestoft, costing £1m, in September. NHS England said it provides funding to staff seven of the

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EDP: Patients rate Norfolk and Suffolk mental health trust as one of worst in country

Tom Bristow of the Eastern Daily Press reports: The region’s mental health service has been named as one of the worst performing in the country in a survey of patients. Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust, which was brought out of “special measures” in October, was rated particularly badly for supporting people with mental health difficulties

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Deaths Crisis: North Norfolk News: Gresham’s School sixthformer Rebecca Haley had watched programme featuring depression and suicide before taking her own life

Geraldine Scott of Norfolk Norfolk News reports: Rebecca Haley, known to friends as Becca, died on April 30 at the boarding school in Cromer Road, Holt. Rebecca was one of a staggering twenty Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) patients to die unexpected deaths in April 2016. In the first full year of NSFT’s

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Video: BBC Look East on our AGM protest over removal of unexpected deaths from NSFT Annual Report and Prime Minister’s Questions

Watch Kevin Burch of the BBC report on our AGM protest over the ever-increasing number of deaths of patients of Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) and the decision of the NSFT Board to remove the number of unexpected deaths from its Annual Report and Accounts 2015-16. The number of unexpected deaths has appeared

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EADT: Protest at Norfolk and Suffolk mental health trust AGM over unexpected patient deaths data

Gemma Mitchell of the East Anglian Daily Times reports: Campaigners have demanded answers and greater transparency from mental health bosses over a “shocking” rise in unexpected patient deaths in Suffolk and Norfolk. Bereaved families, carers, patients and NHS staff were among the protesters who yesterday attended the annual general meeting (AGM) of the trust that

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Deaths Crisis: Is NSFT the mental health Mid Staffs?

A Campaign spokesperson said: “The decision of the Board of NSFT to remove the number of unexpected deaths from its Annual Report and Accounts 2015-16 is disgraceful. The number of NSFT patients dying unexpectedly increased by thirteen per cent in 2015-16 and continues to do so. Since April 2012, at least 572 NSFT patients have

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BBC News: Mental health budgets ‘still being cut despite pledge’

Sophie Hutchinson, Health Correspondent of BBC News, writes about the mental health feature on yesterday’s national BBC television news: Mental health trusts in England are still having their budgets cut, despite government assurances they would be funded on a par with physical healthcare, figures suggest. Analysis by the King’s Fund think tank, seen by the

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CQC Report: NSFT ‘Requires Improvement’ but Safety remains ‘Inadequate’

Look beyond the spin from the Board of Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT). The Care Quality Commission (CQC) confirms our concerns about beds, staffing, safety and increasing numbers of patient deaths at NSFT. Not enough staff: We had a number of concerns about the safety of some services at this trust. These included

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Deaths Crisis: Norfolk County Council’s Health Overview & Scrutiny Committee (HOSC) demands answers from NSFT

County Hall Martineau Lane Norwich Norfolk NR1 2DH Mr M Scott Chief Executive Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust Letter sent by email 9 September 2016 Dear Mr Scott Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) – unexpected deaths Thank you for attending Norfolk Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee (NHOSC) yesterday and presenting NSFT’s response to

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Guardian: Police says its forces are becoming emergency mental health services

Vikram Dodd in the Guardian reports: Police say they are being relied on as an emergency mental health service and that cuts in psychiatric provision are probably to blame, the Guardian has learned. Officers point to an increase of more than 50% in a decade in the use of powers to detain people under section

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EDP: ‘Something has to change’ – Southwold mental health activist Sarah Barrett speaks out after she was hospitalised 206 miles away from home

No wonder the Eastern Daily Press has been shortlisted for a mental health journalism award. Andrew Papworth reports: A teenage mental health patient sent to hospital 206 miles away from home while recovering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after a violent assault has said: “We must campaign for local hospitals.” Sarah Barrett was 16 and studying

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