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

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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 trust sees 41% rise in serious incidents

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Nic Rigby of the BBC reports: A mental health trust has seen a 41% rise in the number of serious incidents (SIs) – which can include unexpected deaths, injuries or security issues – over three years, new figures show. A Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust report says the number of SIs rose from 161 in

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In NSFT’s words: Not the Six O’Clock News

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From: NSFT Communications Subject: BBC broadcast on Trust being placed into special measures Dear colleagues, The BBC has just informed the Trust that the report, outlined below, will not be broadcast tonight but on another day this week, yet to be decided. I will keep you updated on their revised schedule. Michael Scott Chief Executive Here’s

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In NSFT’s words: BBC Six O’Clock News tonight on ‘redundancies, improvement programme, staff shortages, our financial position, and the disbanding of the Assertive Outreach Team’

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From: NSFT Communications Subject: BBC broadcast on Trust being placed into special measures Dear colleagues, The BBC One 6 O’Clock News is scheduled to be broadcasting a story this evening (Tuesday, 2 June) about our Trust being placed into ‘special measures’ by the regulator, Monitor, following the inspection of our services by the Care Quality Commission

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

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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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Newsflash: File on 4: Minding the Gap: Mental healthcare on BBC Radio 4 at 8 p.m. on 19th May 2015

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We’re working hard to bring the crisis in mental health services at Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) to national attention. The crisis isn’t over. The CCGs and NSFT promised there would be no out of area placements beyond April 2014. That promise broken, there is now a dangerous Waiting List of Shame to

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BBC News: Increased use puts pressure on Norfolk and Waveney mental health trust

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Nic Rigby of the BBC reports: A 38% increase in mental health patients referred to an NHS Trust has hit waiting times, a report has found. The increase in the Norfolk and Waveney area in the December 2014 to February 2015 period – compared with April to June 2014 – resulted in higher staff caseload

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EDP: Norfolk children’s services boss reveals ‘scandal’ over mental health beds for young people

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More important campaigning journalism from our local newspaper, the EDP: Norfolk’s children’s services boss has revealed a lack of available mental health beds for youngsters meant she had to create a makeshift unit in a children’s home, so a 17-year-old could get desperately needed care. And Sheila Lock said a 13-year-old spent a weekend in

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

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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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Ipswich Star: Mental health bosses will make their case as they bid for the funding they are “entitled to”

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Today, members of the Campaign attended the NSFT Board meeting in Ipswich. Matt Bunn of the Ipswich Star reports: Bosses at the trust running mental health services in Suffolk have pledged to fight for their “fair share” of funding as they bid to turn round the fortunes of the organisation. The Norfolk and Suffolk NHS

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BBC News: More than 800 Norfolk mental health patients ‘unallocated’

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Nic Rigby of the BBC reports: More than 800 vulnerable mental health patients in Norfolk have not been assigned care workers due to staffing shortages, a report has revealed. The 839 unallocated cases at Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust include 139 youth team cases. Unison said services at the trust had been “savagely cut”.

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BBC News: Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust failed to act on 258 recommendations

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Nic Rigby of the BBC reports: A mental health trust failed to act on 258 recommendations from 98 reviews into serious incidents, such as patient deaths, a report has revealed. Former Norfolk coroner William Armstrong said the trust’s failure to act was a “serious concern”. Serious incident reviews take place after there are unexpected or

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BBC News: Norfolk and Suffolk health trust in special measures

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Nic Rigby of the BBC reports: A mental health trust has become the first in England to be put in special measures. NHS regulator Monitor will send a team to take over the management of Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust. The decision comes after the Care Quality Commission (CQC) reported that the trust was

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EDP: Norfolk’s mental health service put in special measures

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Tom Bristow of the EDP reports: Special measures will see the appointment of an “improvement director” to provide expertise and hold the trust to account, and arranging a partnership with a high-performing trust. Monitor has also imposed a new condition on NSFT’s licence, enabling the regulator to take further action, such as replacing members of

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Campaign Statement on Monitor putting NSFT into Special Measures

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NSFT becoming the first mental health trust to be put into special measures was inevitable following the damning CQC inspection and the financial black hole. Our main concern is that service users and frontline staff are not made to pay the price of the NSFT Board’s wasted millions with further cuts to already inadequate services.

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Community Care: Vulnerable man was failed by two NHS trusts days before he died, finds watchdog

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Andy McNicoll reports: A man who had expressed suicidal thoughts was failed by two NHS trusts in the days before he was found dead in a river, an investigation by the health service ombudsman has found. Stephen Foster, 48, was found dead on 23 June 2011. Today, the ombudsman published the findings of an investigation

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EADT Editorial: A sad lesson in how to get it so very, very wrong

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A sad lesson in how to get it so very, very wrong So, those who suggested the emperor was parading naked, and not clad in new finery, have been proved right. The very birth of the Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust was accompanied by a chorus of warnings: about jobs; about finance; and – crucially – about care. Critics

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Community Care: Mental health trust should face special measures over ‘inadequate’ safety and leadership, says CQC

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We were all delighted to meet Andy McNicoll, deservedly Mind Mental Health Journalist of the Year, at our campaign meeting yesterday. Ethical investigative journalism is a critical component in our campaign and Andy McNicoll’s work with the BBC’s Michael Buchanan has been of the highest quality. In November 2013 a campaign led by frontline staff

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BBC News: Norfolk and Suffolk mental health services branded ‘inadequate’

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A spokesman for the Campaign to Save Mental Health in Norfolk and Suffolk said: “The regulator confirms what our campaign has consistently said for more than a year.” Click on the image below to read Nic Rigby’s full article on the BBC News website.

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