Sunday 4th May 2014: Join the May Day celebrations at Chapelfield Gardens, Norwich; meet us at our stall and hear campaign members Emma Corlett & Terry Skyrme speak at 1230

Come and meet us at the May Day celebrations at Chapelfield Gardens, Norwich. The campaign has a stall and Emma Corlett and Terry Skyrme will be speaking at about 12.30 p.m. We will have flyers with details of our march on the Care Minister responsible for mental health, Norman Lamb, on the weekend of the […]

Sunday 4th May 2014: Join the May Day celebrations at Chapelfield Gardens, Norwich; meet us at our stall and hear campaign members Emma Corlett & Terry Skyrme speak at 1230 Read More »

BBC Radio Norfolk: Campaigner Terry Skyrme tells the truth as Jonathon Fagge of Norwich CCG and Kathy Chapman of NSFT admit they have failed to eliminate out-of-area beds and have broken their promises

Remember this? Four months ago, Mark Taylor, chief executive of North Norfolk CCG, on behalf of all the central Norfolk CCGs, promised: “Although the numbers are small, we want it to end by April. As commissioners we do not want people to go out of area and we want to stop that as soon as

BBC Radio Norfolk: Campaigner Terry Skyrme tells the truth as Jonathon Fagge of Norwich CCG and Kathy Chapman of NSFT admit they have failed to eliminate out-of-area beds and have broken their promises Read More »

Community Care: Mental health staff consider industrial action over ‘serious safety concerns’ with crisis care

“Union members at the mental health trust serving care minister Norman Lamb’s north Norfolk constituency could be balloted on taking industrial action in protest at ‘serious safety concerns’ with services. The Unison branch at Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust voted unanimously to start the process of holding a ballot for industrial action after Approved

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Unison: Approved mental health practioners (AMHPs) call for urgent action on beds and ballot for industrial action at NSFT

As we predicted earlier this week, frustrated AMHPs at Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) have called in the union. Unison today announced: Norfolk based Approved mental health practitioners (AMHPs) employed by Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust TODAY met to discuss the ongoing bed crisis. The meeting, called by UNISON, heard from AMHPs

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Crisis team crisis: How long does it take to visit five patients?

A member of a Norfolk Crisis Resolution & Home Treatment (CRHT) team at Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) writes: “One of our senior managers was heard the other day asking: “How come a crisis team worker can only do five visits in a day?” Let’s look at the facts: We cover an area

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BBC Radio Norfolk: NSFT misleadingly claims that campaign will not meet Mr. Page

  Here’s the relevant part of our email from which Mr Page quoted, including the parts Mr Page chose not to read out in italics: 2. Informal meeting with yourself and Graham Creelman You recently met with Jxxx and Sxxxxx is having lunch with Graham Creelman today. We have every confidence in their ability to

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EDP Letters: Mental health care has failed a young person in my family

“I read with great interest your article in Wednesday’s EDP about the plight of mental health patients in Norfolk. I am experiencing a situation in our family affected by the failings of mental health care in Norfolk. I would stress how kind, considerate and professional the very many mental health workers who have been involved

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BBC Radio Norfolk: NSFT crisis in mental health services dominates morning schedule

  Click the images below to listen on iPlayer to the two morning shows featuring the crisis in mental health services at Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT):    

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Crisis Team Newsflash: CRHT calls in the unions as NSFT tries to recruit agency staff on £25 per hour

We have written extensively about Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust’s (NSFT) botched redundancy programme which has wasted many millions of pounds and introduced unnecessary and unacceptable risks into the delivery of vital services. Now, exactly what we warned would happen is happening. This is the job advertisement for a band six Community Psychiatric Nurse

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Carlton Court: NSFT’s much-vaunted alternative-to-admission arrangements break down

A campaign member on the coast tells us: “The alternative-to-admission arrangements for Laurel and Larkspur wards at Carlton Court have broken down. The residential home at Hopton has apparently lost three managers. Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) has withdrawn the arrangement to have six beds with only two patients left awaiting removal .

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EDP: Concern over pressure on mental health staff in Norfolk because of high caseloads

Yesterday, a few of the truths told by this campaign emerged at the NSFT Board meeting in Norwich, as reported in the EDP: “Mental health chiefs have insisted they have a plan to tackle high caseloads after it emerged that almost 400 patients in Norfolk were waiting to be assigned to a community worker… This

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Forthcoming Events: Including deadline for HealthEast consultation @ 5 p.m. Thursday 24 April

Whatever Mr. Page, the Chair of Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT), tries to claim in the EDP, the crisis in mental health services deepens, with: hundreds of people who use services without a care coordinator between twenty and thirty people in beds beyond Norfolk & Suffolk at any one time crisis teams overwhelmed

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40th Day of Lent: Going without a real assessment within four hours – Spot the Difference Competition

Below, you’ll find the old Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) Crisis Resolution & Home Treatment Team (CRHT) referral form and the current one. How many differences can you spot? Of course, the big difference between the old and the current form is the additional box entitled ‘CRHT Triage Contact within four hours of

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37th Day of Lent: Going without fit for purpose Access & Assessment

The centrepiece of the ‘radical redesign’, the Access & Assessment Team (AAT) consistently failed, month after month, to meet its performance targets for two out of every three assessments in 2013. Many people who were referred in January of this year are receiving phone calls now, in April, three months later. Access & Assessment delivers

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36th Day of Lent: Going without enough beds

Last week, there were 21 patients placed beyond Norfolk & Suffolk by Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT). That means as far away as Bradford, Weston-Super-Mare, Hastings, Dorking, or London. These are not ‘specialist placements’ but patients who could be treated on an open acute ward, such as Waveney Ward, Glaven Ward , or the now-closed Thurne Ward

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35th Day of Lent: Going without an assessment for three months and then given an appointment more three hours away by public transport

‘S’ writes: “One of my neighbours lives in South Norfolk, in the Diss area. He has been under under-65 services for many years as he has suffered from the enduring mental health issue of depression. This ebbs and flows; this year he is very low in mood, he was discharged from the service because they felt

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