NSFT seeks to reduce out of area placements by refusing emergency admissions rather than by providing necessary beds

A member of the Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) crisis team writes: “NSFT seems determined to reduce the number of out of area placements but not by providing an adequate number of local beds. A senior NSFT manager is going around the country trying to discharge out of area patients. How can this […]

NSFT seeks to reduce out of area placements by refusing emergency admissions rather than by providing necessary beds Read More »

Exclusive: Letter to HealthEast from all Waveney AMHPs exposes crisis in Suffolk and calls for NSFT Executive Board to resign

“NSFT are not to fit to lead or manage mental health services in Great Yarmouth and Waveney. The testimony and reflection above demonstrates this. As such, nothing they propose can be trusted by the CCG to be able to address the endemic problems they themselves have caused. The Waveney AMHP group calls on the CCG

Exclusive: Letter to HealthEast from all Waveney AMHPs exposes crisis in Suffolk and calls for NSFT Executive Board to resign Read More »

BBC: Norfolk and Suffolk mental health patients in 200-mile bed trek

“Some mental health patients in Suffolk and Norfolk are having to travel more than 200 miles (321km) for a bed, it has emerged. Health secretary Jeremy Hunt said the situation was “unacceptable”. Unison urged the government to develop a “rescue package” for mental health services, which they said left 22 patients facing the journey last

BBC: Norfolk and Suffolk mental health patients in 200-mile bed trek Read More »

EDP: ‘Unacceptable’ – health secretary Jeremy Hunt pledges action on out of area mental health placements in Norfolk and Suffolk

Adam Gretton of the Eastern Daily Press (EDP) reports: The government’s health minister pledged to “do what it takes” to address the pressure on mental health beds after being told of some Norfolk and Suffolk patients having to travel more than 200 miles for a bed. When told about the situation at NSFT, Mr Hunt

EDP: ‘Unacceptable’ – health secretary Jeremy Hunt pledges action on out of area mental health placements in Norfolk and Suffolk Read More »

Newsflash: NSFT a priority for inspection by CQC under new approach

The CQC website reports: The first batch of NHS mental health providers will be inspected and rated in October using our new approach. The inspections will assess the four providers to see if the service overall is: safe, effective, caring, responsive to people’s needs and well-led. They will be carried out by a mixture of

Newsflash: NSFT a priority for inspection by CQC under new approach Read More »

EDP: Graphic – Mental health patients sent to Yorkshire, London and North East after trust misses target to end bed placements outside of Norfolk

But Terry Skyrme, who works as a social worker for the NHS trust and member of the Campaign to Save Mental Health Services in Norfolk and Suffolk, said that when he left work last Wednesday there were 21 patients in out of area beds, with the vast majority in private hospitals across the country. He

EDP: Graphic – Mental health patients sent to Yorkshire, London and North East after trust misses target to end bed placements outside of Norfolk Read More »

EDP: Public consultation results will play ‘incredibly important’ part in future of mental health services in Great Yarmouth and Waveney

We’ve said it before but it is worth saying again: congratulations to HealthEast for being the only CCG of the seven in Norfolk & Suffolk to hold open and properly recorded public consultation meetings on the radical redesign proposals which Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) pushed through without any meaningful public consultation: closing

EDP: Public consultation results will play ‘incredibly important’ part in future of mental health services in Great Yarmouth and Waveney Read More »

Audio: Emma Corlett interviewed on BBC Radio Suffolk Breakfast Show about proposed cuts to mental health services

Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) has tried to intimidate us into silence and failed. Instead, NSFT has silenced itself, unable to find any member of the executive team willing to defend the indefensible on the BBC. Whatever happened to public accountability? How much is Fay Quayle, the interim Head of Communications, being paid

Audio: Emma Corlett interviewed on BBC Radio Suffolk Breakfast Show about proposed cuts to mental health services Read More »

Devastating HealthEast consultation: NSFT is breaking the law and ignoring NICE and Department of Health guidance

“Managers are in the impossible situation of holding medical recommendations for admission to hospital, but unable to comply with their duty under section 13 MH Act 1983. We have reached a point where Approved Mental Health Professionals (AMHPs) are no longer able to operate on a legal basis. Patients’ safety is being placed at risk, and their

Devastating HealthEast consultation: NSFT is breaking the law and ignoring NICE and Department of Health guidance Read More »

Devastating HealthEast consultation results: less than 10% of respondents accept NSFT’s proposals to close beds and move to one site

“Proposal One: Adult mental health services This proposal is to reduce the number of adult acute beds from 28 across two sites (Northgate Hospital and Carlton Court) to 20 beds at one of the two sites and to develop one enhanced crisis resolution and home treatment team to cover the whole Great Yarmouth and Waveney area. There will also be

Devastating HealthEast consultation results: less than 10% of respondents accept NSFT’s proposals to close beds and move to one site Read More »

Devastating HealthEast Consultation results: “There is a general lack of confidence in the NSFT”

“For NSFT to attempt to justify further bed reductions while simultaneously cutting community services and spending significant sums on private out of area placement beggars belief. It is a disservice to those we care for and to the staff attempting to manage these serious risks in very difficult circumstances.” “In the current financial reality the CCG and NSFT

Devastating HealthEast Consultation results: “There is a general lack of confidence in the NSFT” Read More »

Crisis Team Crisis: More than a month after the deadline for ending the use of beds beyond Norfolk & Suffolk, the crisis is WORSE not better

Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) and the three clinical commissioning groups in central Norfolk (North Norfolk CCG, South Norfolk CCG, Norwich CCG) made a big splash of their undertaking to end the inhumane, expensive, dangerous and illegal practice of having insufficient beds for people in mental health crisis in Norfolk and Suffolk, which

Crisis Team Crisis: More than a month after the deadline for ending the use of beds beyond Norfolk & Suffolk, the crisis is WORSE not better Read More »

Community Care: ‘It feels like some lives are worth more than others’: working on the mental health frontline

Emma Corlett writes in Community Care (trigger alert). “As I say, some lives it seems are worth more than others. Where has the humanity gone? It’s a damning indictment of our society and the state of our services that the local shopping centre has now erected safety hoardings to prevent similar incidents. I have no words.”

Community Care: ‘It feels like some lives are worth more than others’: working on the mental health frontline Read More »

Campaign response to intimidating email from Messrs. Page & Hopkins of NSFT

“Sadly, it is necessary to comment upon the recent email from Mr Page, NSFT Chair, to all NSFT staff. Firstly, we are not a Unison campaign. Unison has no representative on the committee and, although we have received a donation from Unison for which we are most grateful, we have received significant sums from individuals

Campaign response to intimidating email from Messrs. Page & Hopkins of NSFT Read More »

NSFT – A Warning from History: March 2013 – Unison’s submission to the Joint Norfolk & Suffolk Health Overview & Scrutiny Committee

Fourteen months ago, when Unison sent the letter below, the Board of Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) wasn’t campaigning for fairer funding for mental health. As recently as December 2013, the current NSFT Chair, Mr. Page, was claiming that it wasn’t appropriate for the NSFT Board to question mental health funding as this

NSFT – A Warning from History: March 2013 – Unison’s submission to the Joint Norfolk & Suffolk Health Overview & Scrutiny Committee Read More »

BBC Radio 4 Today: Michael Buchanan reports on the beds crisis and Norman Lamb blames everyone except himself

We’re proud to have helped Michael Buchanan of the BBC and Andy McNicoll of Community Care in their excellent work exposing the scandalous bed crisis on the national stage. Even this year at the HealthEast consultations, the Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) Operations Director continued to push for approval of the bed closures

BBC Radio 4 Today: Michael Buchanan reports on the beds crisis and Norman Lamb blames everyone except himself Read More »

Downfall video: NSFT leadership team in the Hellesdon Hospital bunker

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 war between Google and Apple which is beyond our control. If you don’t understand why this Downfall parody is satirical humour read this.

Downfall video: NSFT leadership team in the Hellesdon Hospital bunker Read More »

BBC Radio Norfolk: Campaigner Terry Skyrme tells the truth as Jonathon Fagge of Norwich CCG and Kathy Chapman of NSFT admit they have failed to eliminate out-of-area beds and have broken their promises

Remember this? Four months ago, Mark Taylor, chief executive of North Norfolk CCG, on behalf of all the central Norfolk CCGs, promised: “Although the numbers are small, we want it to end by April. As commissioners we do not want people to go out of area and we want to stop that as soon as

BBC Radio Norfolk: Campaigner Terry Skyrme tells the truth as Jonathon Fagge of Norwich CCG and Kathy Chapman of NSFT admit they have failed to eliminate out-of-area beds and have broken their promises Read More »

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