EDP: Mental health trust boss Michael Scott retires with immediate effect ahead of pending inspection report

Geraldine Scott of the Eastern Daily Press reports: The boss of the region’s beleaguered mental health trust is retiring with immediate effect. The trust recently had its third inspection and NSFT chair Gary Page said as they “await the inspection report, Michael feels now is the appropriate time for a new leader to take forward […]

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EDP: Mental health crisis services in Norfolk are ‘uncaring, unwelcoming, unsafe and ineffective’ says new report

Geraldine Scott of the Eastern Daily Press reports: “Tell them you are suicidal and they do nothing”. This is one of the shocking comments made by people in desperate need about Norfolk’s mental health crisis care. They are revealed today in a damning report by Healthwatch Norfolk, which spoke to 680 crisis care users –

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Dis the CQC: NSFT pays consultants £58,000 to contradict the Care Quality Commission about beds

Explaining why services at Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) were unsafe, the most recent inspection report by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) noted (page 8): “There remained a shortage of beds across the trust and that this had impaired patient safety and treatment at times. Staff worked with other services in the trust

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Dis the CQC: NSFT Chair Gary Page goes on holiday during the Care Quality Commission inspection

Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) is being inspected by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). What does the Chair of NSFT, Gary Page, do during the second week of the inspection? He goes on holiday. We’re sure Mr Page’s dedication will be much appreciated by frontline NSFT staff and CQC inspectors alike. Let’s hope

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Beds Crisis: EDP: Man spends nearly three days in police custody waiting for a mental health bed

Geraldine Scott of the Eastern Daily Press reports: A man was held in police custody for nearly 60 hours while he waited for a mental health bed to become available. The man – one of 10 similar cases recorded by police between May 2016 and February 2017 – was arrested for a public order offence

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EDP: Mental health trust governor speaks out after restrictions on confidential papers after Panorama leak

Geraldine Scott of the Eastern Daily Press reports: Aired in February this year, the programme shone a light on the Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) and how the number of unexpected patient deaths at NSFT rose when the trust cut services as part of its “radical redesign”. But after papers for the board

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Press Release: NSFT loses drug and alcohol services in Norfolk – Norfolk Recovery Partnership (NRP) not even shortlisted

The Board of Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) has been shocked that Norfolk Recovery Partnership (NRP) has not even been shortlisted for the new contract to deliver drug and alcohol services in Norfolk. NSFT’s Board should not be surprised. Public Health Norfolk and Norfolk County Council have made it very clear how unhappy

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Meeting with NSFT on Monday 14th August

Sorry about the late notice. We are meeting NSFT to talk about improving its Suicide Prevention Strategy and recent moves elsewhere in the country to adopt a zero tolerance approach. Meet in the top car park at Hellesdon Hospital at 1645. The delegation will be led by Terry Skyrme. A location map is below:

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Petition: Major improvements to NSFT Suffolk and Norfolk mental health services needed now!

Emily Luccarini has started a petition demanding improvements to mental health services in Norfolk and Suffolk delivered by Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT). Click on the image below to sign the petition and add your own comments. Thanks Emily!  

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Fact check: EDP: ‘Things are moving in the right direction’ at region’s mental health trust, says chief executive

Geraldine Scott of the EDP ‘interviews’ Michael ‘Payrise’ Scott, the £175,000 per year Chief Executive of Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT): The region’s mental health trust has reported it has seen financial growth at the same time as slashing its deficit for the first time in five years. That sounds great. Sadly, ‘slashing

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Fixed, Flawed Farce: Part 3: EDP: A staggering waste: More than £1.6m spent sending region’s mental health patients to private hospital in just seven months

Geraldine Scott of the Eastern Daily Press reports: More than £1.6m has been spent by the region’s mental health trust on sending patients to a private hospital since it was put into special measures by inspectors last year. Mental health campaigners alleged Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust (NSFT) continue to use the private Mundesley Hospital,

Fixed, Flawed Farce: Part 3: EDP: A staggering waste: More than £1.6m spent sending region’s mental health patients to private hospital in just seven months Read More »

Fixed, Flawed Farce: Part 2: EDP: Half of mental health beds budget for Norfolk and Suffolk spent in first month of year

Tom Bristow, Investigations Editor of the Eastern Daily Press reports: Last year the Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust (NSFT) went £3.5m over budget on sending patients to beds at other facilities, including private hospitals and out of the area. Its budget for buying beds from other providers is £1m a year. But it used almost

Fixed, Flawed Farce: Part 2: EDP: Half of mental health beds budget for Norfolk and Suffolk spent in first month of year Read More »

Fixed, Flawed Farce: Part 1: ‘No decisions about me, without me’

Below is a list of the people interviewed in the so-called ‘wide range of engagement meetings with local stakeholders’ during the £58,000 Beds Review. Thirty-nine are senior employees of Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT). Five are commissioning bureaucrats. None are service users. None are bereaved relatives. None are carers. None are from patient

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Beds Crisis: EDP: How 140 NHS mental health beds have been cut in Norfolk and Suffolk

Investigative reporter Tom Bristow of the Eastern Daily Press reports: A quarter of mental health beds in Norfolk and Suffolk have been lost in the last four years. While England has seen the number of mental health beds fall by 3,500 since 2012, a drop of 16pc, the Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust (NSFT), which

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Beds Crisis: EDP: Campaigners criticise new mental health trust proposals: ‘We want beds not cups of tea’

Geraldine Scott of the Eastern Daily Press reports: No new beds for patients in psychiatric crisis will be made available by the region’s mental health trust, despite concerns being raised by the health watchdog over that a shortage of beds “had impaired patient safety and treatment at times”. We haven’t found a senior doctor at

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Deaths Crisis: EDP: Norwich man suffering psychotic episode died after being restrained, inquest hears

Adam Howlett of the Eastern Daily Press reports: A man who suffered fatal injuries while under the care of the Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust had run out of medication to treat his schizophrenia, an inquest has heard. Neil Jewell, 42, of Philadelphia Lane, Norwich, died at Ipswich Hospital on January 17, 2014, after

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EDP: Mother of Norwich patient says son with schizophrenia could have been saved and blasts mental health services

Tom Bristow of the Eastern Daily Press reports: The last time Sheila Preston saw her son alive was Christmas 2014. Almost two years later, two police officers knocked on her door at 1.30am at her home in Mendham on the Norfolk-Suffolk border. They had come to tell her Leo had been found dead in his

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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

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

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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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

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

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