EDP Front Page Exclusive: Number of deaths at Norfolk and Suffolk mental health service surges

Nick Carding of the EDP reports exclusively: Campaigners say their “worst fears have been confirmed” after it emerged that the number of unexpected deaths of mental health patients in the region is continuing to rise. Figures published by the region’s mental health trust show more patients died unexpectedly in the first half of this financial […]

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EDP: We’re at a turning point, says Norfolk and Suffolk mental health chief

David Powles of the Eastern Daily Press reports: Michael Scott, Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust chief executive, pledged at yesterday’s AGM it had learned from its mistakes and promised that high quality, safe services would become ‘the norm not the exception’. However, his promises have been met with apprehension from mental health campaigners, who say

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BBC News: Spend on patients out of area up 400pc

The BBC reports: Spending on sending Norfolk and Suffolk mental health patients outside the two counties has risen four-fold in a year, new figures show. The annual report for the Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust says it spent £3.3m on placements outside the area in 2014-15 compared with £800,000 in 2013-14. It says this was

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EDP: Four-fold increase in bill to send mental health patients out of the region

The Eastern Daily Press reports: A lack of beds and increased demand led to a four-fold increase in the cost of sending people with mental health problems outside of Norfolk and Suffolk in 2014/15. When a bed on a ward is not available for people who need it in the region they are sent elsewhere

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Express and Star: Mental health patient spent 64 HOURS in police custody because there were no NHS beds in the country

The country has run out of mental health beds after the closure of more than two thousand NHS beds. The Express and Star reports: A mental health patient spent 64 hours in police custody, taking 22 officers off the streets and costing taxpayers’ £20,000 – because there were no available NHS beds in the entire country.

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Research: Specialist mental health services in England in 2014: overview of funding, access and levels of care

Specialist mental health services in England in 2014: overview of funding, access and levels of care Mary Docherty and Graham Thornicroft International Journal of Mental Health Systems 2015 9:34 DOI: 10.1186/s13033-015-0023-9 © Docherty and Thornicroft. 2015 Abstract Background Since the economic recession began in 2008 anecdotal reports suggest that mental health services in England have experienced disinvestment, but published data to test

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BBC News: Mental health patients sent ‘hundreds of miles’ for care

4,447 patients sent out of their area for treatment in 2014-15 – up 23.1% from 2013-14 “I didn’t know where I was, I didn’t have a clue. I knew I was a long, long way from home as it had taken so long to get there but I didn’t know where in the country I

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Fiscal Fantasy Island: NSFT spends record £2.42 million on temporary staff as out of area bed days nearly double

Having wasted £17.25 million of taxpayers’ money getting rid of staff it needed, Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) spent nearly £2.5 million on temporary staff in May alone. This is a new record, even for NSFT. 68 per cent of this expenditure was on expensive agency staff and the reliance on temporary staff

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UNISON: Stark warning over further £36 million cuts to mental health services

UNISON issues stark warning over further £36 million cuts to mental health services UNISON has reacted angrily to news today that the proposed financial recovery plan for Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust includes a further £36 million of cuts.  The Trust, which provides mental health services across Norfolk and Suffolk, has already made £44

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BBC News: Norfolk and Suffolk mental health funding plan prompts dispute

Nic Rigby of the BBC reports: Cash for future mental health provision in Norfolk and Suffolk has “fallen short” of what is needed, prompting a dispute with an NHS trust and a funder. Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust said funding offered by central Norfolk clinical commissioning groups (CCG) does not meet the “volume of demand”.

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Community Care: Mental health trust funding down 8% from 2010 despite coalition’s drive for parity of esteem

Norman Lamb called our campaign ‘mental health extremists‘ for simply pointing out that Norman Lamb claims to be a mental health champion whilst cutting mental health funding and services. Now the £600 million’s worth of Norman Lamb’s duplicity is clear for all to see. What kind of ‘drive for parity of esteem’ results in the

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Pay of Chief Executive of Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) increased by a quarter in the midst of mental health crisis

The average salary of staff at Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) fell by £4,796 (18%) in just three years from £26,557 to £21,761 between 2011 and 2014. Mental health services were trashed as part of the failed ‘radical redesign’ which resulted in NSFT being rated inadequate by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and Monitor

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Guardian: NHS mental health care ‘pushed to breaking point by lack of beds’

The lack of acute beds available to mental health patients has left the system at breaking point, the Royal College of Psychiatrists has said. Illustrating the scale of the problem, the college said it understood that on one occasion last year there were no beds available for adults in England. It called for action to

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Mirror: NHS crisis: Teen mental health patients put on ADULT wards in bed shortage

NHS England, a leaked email reveals, have told regional health bosses the shortage of beds is so bad that older teenagers are set to be admitted to adult wards The NHS beds crisis plumbed new depths as hospitals were advised to put teenage mental health patients onto adult wards. NHS England, a leaked email reveals,

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Observer: Beds crisis hits NHS care for mentally ill children

In the email seen by the Observer, which was sent on Friday on the instruction of national officials working for NHS England, the medical director for East Anglia, says: “I have just been asked to inform you all by the national specialist commissioning team of the current national lack of child and adolescent mental health

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Daily Mail: EXCLUSIVE: NHS more than DOUBLES spending on private beds for mental health patients after slashing hundreds of its own beds – to save money

“In some areas, bed cuts were drastic. One trust alone, Norfolk and Suffolk, axed 74 mental health beds from its stock of 322 in just two years – a cut of almost a quarter.” Local MP Norman Lamb must be so proud of Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) and his legacy as the

Daily Mail: EXCLUSIVE: NHS more than DOUBLES spending on private beds for mental health patients after slashing hundreds of its own beds – to save money Read More »

Lobby NSFT Board of Governors Meeting: Thursday 8th January 2015, 1230, City Hall, Norwich NR2 1NH

We will be lobbying the Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) Board of Governors meeting tomorrow. Meet at 1230 on the City Hall steps. Some of us will also be attending the meeting which runs from 1300-1700 in the Council Chamber. Please join us. Despite mountains of paperwork, detailed terms of reference and long meetings,

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Sheringham Independent: Skyrme vs. Lamb

Terry Skyrme of the Campaign, who lives in Norman Lamb’s North Norfolk constituency, gives Lamb a roasting: We in the Campaign to save Mental Health Services in Norfolk and Suffolk find it hard to stomach Norman Lamb’s continuous efforts to present himself as the champion of the mentally ill. He has been a Health Minister

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Meltdown: Working as a community nurse at NSFT

“I work as a Community Mental Health Nurse for Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) and each week at work becomes more unbearable for so many reasons. Caseloads are unmanageably high with constant pressure from managers to take more cases that are being referred in on a daily basis. There is pressure to take

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10-bed Assessment Unit fiasco: Can it get worse?

Several supporters have been in touch. They tell us that while Nic Rigby’s report of the rejection of the opening of the 10-bed Assessment Unit is accurate, it is quite conservative in the conclusions it draws. We have also been sent by several sources the relevant sections of the Investment Committee (IC) report submitted by

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