EDP: ‘I want to get my sleeves rolled up and improve things’ – New mental health boss sets out priorities

Geraldine Scott of the Eastern Daily Press reports: The new boss of the region’s mental health trust has expressed his disappointment after it was revealed service users and carers gave him low scores during the interview process. The scores weren’t just low. The large and heterogeneous service user and carer appointment panel came to the

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Press statement: Untrue and misleading statements made by Alistair Campbell

Yesterday, Alistair Campbell told the Eastern Daily Press: “On the one hand they’re saying services are terrible, and on the other hand they’re saying we don’t want any change. But there’s a bit of a big inconsistency in that. If they’re not happy with the services then at least look at some of the changes

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EDP: Mental health trust’s pledge to eradicate out of area placements by 2021

Geraldine Scott of the Eastern Daily Press reports: The region’s mental health trust has pledged to eradicate the use of out of area beds by 2021. Oh dear. That’s three years away, a national target and seven years after commissioners’ original promise to end the use of out of area beds before the end of

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EDP: New mental health beds to be opened for children and young people

Geraldine Scott of the Eastern Daily Press reports: New mental health beds for children and young people are set to open in the region after a review found current services were not enough. At long last! We’ve been saying this should happen for more than four years. Commissioners, including the newly-imposed CEO of NSFT, Antek

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EDP: Mental health boss brands rejection of funding as ‘utterly indefensible’ as governors raise concern over recruitment figures

Gemma Mitchell of the Eastern Daily Press reports: A mental health boss has hit out and branded it ‘utterly indefensible’ that a bid for more than £5m which would be used to address safety concerns was snubbed by the government. We understand that the Improvement Director, imposed upon Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT)

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EADT: Suffolk patient moved 150 miles to Derbyshire mental health unit following Lark Ward closure

Gemma Mitchell of the East Anglian Daily Times reports: A Suffolk father is facing a six-hour round trip to visit his vulnerable son following the closure of a vital mental health unit in Ipswich. A Stowmarket man whose 20-year-old son is a patient on Lark Ward, based in the grounds of Ipswich Hospital, has spoken

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Healthwatch Suffolk condemns service user and carer engagement at Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT)

Healthwatch Suffolk comments on the announcement of the closure of the Suffolk PICU by Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT): Healthwatch Suffolk note with serious concern the news that the Lark Ward, a psychiatric intensive care unit (PICU) run by Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust (NSFT) at Woodlands, will close from Friday 6th April

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Audio: BBC Radio Norfolk: Matthew Gudgin interviews NSFT interim CEO Julie Cave and a campaigner about the closure of yet another 36 beds

Matthew Gudgin of the BBC interviews a spokesperson for our campaign and the interim Chief Executive of Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT), Julie Cave, about the closure of yet another 36 mental health beds in Norfolk and Suffolk. We are asked whether we have any confidence in the newly-appointed Chief Executive of NSFT,

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BBC News: Norfolk and Suffolk mental health beds closures ‘shocking’

The BBC reports: Thirty-six mental health beds are being closed by Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust, eight of them permanently. Further details have emerged after it was revealed a mental health ward in Ipswich would be temporarily shut. The trust said the closures “were in the best interests of patients”. But the Campaign to

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EADT: ‘This is a humanitarian disaster’ – Mental health trust closes 36 beds

Gemma Mitchell of the East Anglian Daily Times reports: The region’s beleaguered mental health trust has had to shut 36 beds since autumn, it has been revealed. Beds have closed in Ipswich, Norwich, Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft. At least eight of the bed closures are permanent. Service users and carers and their organisations received little

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Exclusive: First NSFT’s governors knew of the involvement of Antek Lejk’s Cornwall PCT in the out-of-hours deaths scandal was when they read about it in the EDP

We have been told that the governors of Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) were placed under what we consider to be inappropriate pressure to approve the appointment of Antek Lejk as its Chief Executive. The ballot was not secret. Even the usually compliant governors of NSFT had deep reservations after Mr Lejk’s poor

Exclusive: First NSFT’s governors knew of the involvement of Antek Lejk’s Cornwall PCT in the out-of-hours deaths scandal was when they read about it in the EDP Read More »

Jobs for the Boys: NSFT facing possible legal action over the ‘appointment’ of Antek Lejk as Chief Executive

Mr. Page, Please send us: a) the NSFT current Recruitment and Selection Policy as this is not available on the NSFT website; b) the current NSFT Equality Policy as the version published on the NSFT website was last revised ten years ago. Please send these documents, which should be readily available and are not, promptly.

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EDP: New mental health boss appointment branded ‘disastrous’ by campaigners

Geraldine Scott of the Eastern Daily Press reports: The appointment of a new mental health boss has been branded “disastrous” by campaigners due to the new chief’s background in NHS funding. That means cuts. The STP’s own figures show that forty per cent of the ‘savings’ are due to funding not keeping up with inflation.

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NHS Staff Survey 2017 – Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) is appalling – yet again

Yet again, the NHS Staff Survey results are appalling. Even worse than 2016. The extremely expensive Comms Department at Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) will try to spin these results, just as it did with the most recent CQC inspection which found that mental health services were unsafe for an unprecedented second time; that NSFT

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NOW RESCHEDULED: Protest: Against Greed, Mental Health Cuts and NHS Privatisation: ‘No to cuts, No to Branson, No to Lejk’: 1130-1200 Tuesday 1st May 2018: Carrow Road, Norwich NR1 1JE

The NHS bureaucracy have now rearranged their post cuts, pre privatisation jamboree ‘Breaking the Mould’. We will be there to protest against mental health cuts, NHS privatisation and the imposition of CCG hatchet man Antek Lejk as the Chief Executive of Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) despite the objections of service users and

NOW RESCHEDULED: Protest: Against Greed, Mental Health Cuts and NHS Privatisation: ‘No to cuts, No to Branson, No to Lejk’: 1130-1200 Tuesday 1st May 2018: Carrow Road, Norwich NR1 1JE Read More »

EDP Exclusive: Richard Branson’s controversial private health company Virgin Care could take over children’s mental health care in Norfolk

Geraldine Scott of the Eastern Daily Press reports: Children’s mental health services in Norfolk could be taken over by Sir Richard Branson’s controversial company Virgin Care, it can be revealed. The private company, which provides more than £1bn-worth of NHS contracts across the country, is believed to be eyeing a move into Norfolk – prompting

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BBC News: Richard Handley: ‘Gross failures’ in constipation death

BBC News reports: A “missed opportunity” for potentially life-saving treatment contributed to the death of a man from constipation complications, an inquest has found. Richard Handley, 33, who had Down’s syndrome, died at Ipswich Hospital on 17 November 2012. Some 10kg (22lb) of faeces was removed from his body two days before. Coroner Dr Peter

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