Mirror: Jeremy Hunt breaks his pledge to raise spending on mental health

Jason Beattie of the Mirror reports: Jeremy Hunt has failed to meet his pledge to increase funding on mental health, figures show today. Freedom of Information requests reveal the amount of money spent on mental health could be cut for the third year in a row. More than half of clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) – […]

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Deaths Crisis: INQUEST challenges suitability of supported housing in care provision to young adults with serious, longstanding mental illness

The inquest into the ‘unexpected death’ of Daniel Chapman under the care of Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) started on Monday 19th September before the Suffolk coroner, Peter Dean, at Bury St Edmunds. The family is represented by Claire Mawer at 15 New Bridge Street and INQUEST Lawyer’s Group member Harriet Wistrich of Birnberg

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BBC News: Increasing numbers of rough sleepers in city

Caroline Kingdon of the BBC reports: A charity in Norwich that helps the homeless says they’ve seen an increase in the number of rough sleepers in the city over the last few years. The St Martins Housing Trust, which runs the 30-bed Bishopbridge House hostel, says this year they’ve seen about 200 people come through their doors,

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EDP: ‘It is deeply troubling’ – Number of mental health patients in Norfolk and Suffolk waiting longer than national standard rises by nearly 200pc

Nicholas Carding of the Eastern Daily Press reports: Campaigners say they are “deeply troubled” after it emerged the number of mental health patients waiting longer than national standards for treatment has risen by nearly 200pc. Under the NHS constitution patients should be treated within 18 weeks of referral but new figures reveal 280 patients waited

EDP: ‘It is deeply troubling’ – Number of mental health patients in Norfolk and Suffolk waiting longer than national standard rises by nearly 200pc Read More »

EDP: Deaths at mental health service show lack of learning, says doctor

Tom Bristow of the Archant Investigations Unit reports: The region’s troubled mental health service has been accused of failing to learn from its mistakes after it emerged that nowhere in the country had more concerns raised about mental health deaths than Norfolk and Suffolk. Coroners have written to the Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust (NSFT)

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Guardian: NHS child mental health services are failing the next generation, say GPs

Denis Campbell of the Guardian reports: Pulse’s figures, obtained under freedom of information legislation from 15 mental health trusts, showed that 61% of children and young people referred for help from CAMHS in 2015 received no treatment. A third were not even assessed for it. Only 20% of under-18s referred to Norfolk and Suffolk NHS

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Pulse: Why do 60% of GP child mental health referrals end with no treatment?

Caroline Price of Pulse reports: A whole generation of children is being failed by mental health services, say GPs who struggle to access specialist help for their patients. Seven out of the 15 trusts showed marked reductions. For example, at Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust the proportion treated fell from 42% to 26%,

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Pulse: Two-thirds of GP referrals for child mental health lead to no treatment

Caroline Price of Pulse reports: Figures obtained from 15 mental health trusts reveal that 60% of GP referrals to child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) lead to no treatment and a third are not even assessed. The situation for young people with mental health issues appears to be worsening, with the numbers of referrals

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EADT: NSFT curtailing psychiatric liaison services (PLS) in hospitals “without warning or consultation”

Andrew Hirst of the East Anglian Daily Times reports shocking news: Labour has joined calls demanding more money be made available for mental health services in Suffolk, warning that reported cuts of £200,000 will have “severe consequences” for sufferers in the county. Sarah Adams, Labour’s health spokeswoman, said the cuts in provision were “disappointing to

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EDP: Mental health trust struggling to fill nursing shifts on region’s inpatient wards

Nicholas Carding of the Eastern Daily Press reports: Staffing levels at mental health wards are under the spotlight today after figures revealed a reduction of permanently employed nurses filling shifts. Figures show the trust’s fill-rate of nurses employed by NSFT is fluctuating between 80pc-90pc, meaning managers have to use extra funds to bring in temporary

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The Daily Gazette and Essex County Standard: UPDATED: Popular… student… should have been followed up by Wellbeing Service

Katherine Palmer of The Daily Gazette and Essex County Standard reports: A TEENAGER… should have been followed up by a mental health wellbeing service, an inquest has heard. Harriet Philo-Powell died suddenly aged 18 at the end of February. She had referred herself to a wellbeing service at the Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust

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BBC News: ‘Significant increase’ in mental health patients being sent out of area

Nic Rigby of the BBC reports: There has been a “significant increase” in the number of Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust mental health patients sent out of its area in May, a report to its board has found. Click on the image below to read the article in full on the BBC website:

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EDP: Letter: Shocking Figures Reveal Impact of cuts on Mental Health Services

The EDP printed this letter from the Campaign to Save Mental Health Services in Norfolk and Suffolk on Saturday 18th June 2016: Dear Editor So, the Independent Inquiry into the deaths of patients under the care of Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) has concluded that the number of these deaths is no worse

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An NSFT Mother and Carer responds to the tragic death of Henry Curtis-Williams

A mother and carer responds to the tragic death of Henry Curtis-Williams: “Again another young person has died when he should have been protected from the dangers of mental illness. Assessed by a psychiatrist as needing no clinical care and released the next day without medication, Henry Curtis-Williams died and his mother and father have been

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Daily Mail: Parents whose fashion student son, 21, died five days after being released from a mental health unit say police failed to tell them when they found him ‘staring over the side of a bridge’

Keiligh Baker of the Daily Mail reports: The parents of a student who took his own life just five days after being released from a psychiatric unit are ‘distraught’ that police and health staff failed to alert them to his mental state. Henry Curtis-Williams was detained by police under the Mental Health Act after he was

Daily Mail: Parents whose fashion student son, 21, died five days after being released from a mental health unit say police failed to tell them when they found him ‘staring over the side of a bridge’ Read More »

Fiscal Fantasy Island: NSFT spends over half its Out Of Trust Acute (OOA) Beds budget in first two months of the year

The number of out of trust acute (OOA) bed days has nearly doubled: from 332 days in April 2016 to 647 days in May 2016. Most of these patients are being sent to the expensive, remote and private Mundesley Hospital, where it seems that none of the medical staff have passed the exams of the Royal

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RSA Norwich: The Road to Hell is Paved with Good Intentions

Terry Skyrme reflects on the recent RSA mental health event in Norwich: “Campaign supporters held a protest outside an event organized by the RSA at St Michael’s church in Norwich. Speakers at the event represented the “Third sector” and other mainstream services such as Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT), the main provider of

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The Norwich Radical: The Elephant in the Room: Norfolk’s Mental Health Crisis

Hannah Rose reports in The Norwich Radical from the recent RSA event: Instead, I was perturbed by the oddly formal sense of occasion — cheese and wine were offered on arrival — and I was given instructions to mingle. I had the distinct feeling that I was definitely at the wrong meeting. Only around fifty chairs

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NSFT – A Warning from History: Unexpected deaths: 2013 vs 2016: Has anything changed?

Compare what Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) claimed in 2013 with what NSFT claims in 2016. What has changed except that NSFT suffered 45 unexpected deaths in the first three months of 2016 compared with 22 per quarter in 2012-13? While the number of deaths has doubled, the excuses remain the same. Most

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Help: Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspecting NSFT in July 2016

CQC, the independent regulator of health, mental health and adult social care in England will be inspecting Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust the week beginning the 11th July.  They would like to hear feedback about mental health services before the inspection. There are a number of ways people can feedback their views (CQC are

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