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 […]

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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

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Video: Crisis at NSFT is main story on BBC One Sunday Politics East

In depth interviews with Emma Corlett, Denise Day and Norman Lamb regarding the on-going mental health crisis at Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) presented by Etholle George. Yet again, NSFT fails to put anybody forward to discuss the beds and community crises and Norman Lamb blames everybody else and claims to be powerless

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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

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Audio: BBC Suffolk interview & opinion poll as NSFT Chair Mr Page denies both 30th April out of area deadline and bed closures in Suffolk

Listen to Mr Page, the chair of Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT), claim that no beds have been or will be closed in Suffolk – until a local listener contacts BBC Suffolk to say that NSFT has closed beds at Carlton Court in Suffolk and is involved in a consultation with HealthEast over further

Audio: BBC Suffolk interview & opinion poll as NSFT Chair Mr Page denies both 30th April out of area deadline and bed closures in Suffolk 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 Editorial: Pledge has been broken

“At a time when public funds are stretched, there are huge questions to be asked about the cost of sending people hundreds of miles away to private mental health beds. But on a human level, the practice of dispatching vulnerable patients so far from friends and family, must stop. Officials from the Norfolk and Suffolk NHS

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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

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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

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Devastating HealthEast consultation results: Public decisively rejects closure of 12 beds for older people at Carlton Court by nearly 7:1

The permanent closure of 12 older people’s beds. HealthEast is interested in your feedback on the elements of these proposals. Permanently closing 12 beds at Laurel Ward, Carlton Court. “These are wonderful beds in a first class facility please keep them open. This proposal effectively means that the number of beds for people who require acute

Devastating HealthEast consultation results: Public decisively rejects closure of 12 beds for older people at Carlton Court by nearly 7:1 Read More »

Community Care: ‘Critically unwell’ mental health patients sent home due to bed shortages

Sue Bailey, chair of the Royal College of Psychiatrists said that the survey findings showed mental health services were at a “tipping point”. “Continued cuts to services can only result in further distress and discomfort for patients, many of whom are young, vulnerable, some of whom are forced to receive care far from home. This

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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

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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.”

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