Ellis Barker of the East Anglian Daily Times reports: An internal investigation has been launched into mental health services in Suffolk and Norfolk after the number of patient deaths increased from 95 to 130 in a year. It means the average number of deaths, including in accidents and suicides by people known to professionals to […]
“Ours is a moral campaign, founded in November 2013 by mental health staff deeply concerned about cuts and service closures at NSFT and what they believed was a cluster of preventable deaths caused by the so-called ‘radical redesign’ process. Those brave staff have been joined by more than two thousand users of mental health services,
A funeral every ten days: Campaign statement on the increase in deaths in the community Read More »
Nic Rigby of the BBC reports: The number of Norfolk and Suffolk mental health patient deaths has gone up from four to six a month between 2013 and 2015, it has been revealed. The 50% increase in the average number of deaths, excluding deaths by natural causes or those drug-related, goes before a trust meeting
BBC News: Concern at rise in mental health patient deaths Read More »
A brave whistleblower tells Nikki Fox of the BBC that the crisis has not gone away; that the demand for mental health services still far exceeds clinical capacity; that the management of Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) appears to have little understanding of the scale of the problems. The Norwich South MP, Clive
Kept in the Dark: Video: BBC News: Cuts, Crisis and Cover-up at NSFT Read More »
NSFT claims to the EDP: Has the trust taken on board the concerns about the scrapping of the Assertive Outreach Team? If so what has been done? “Following the integration of the assertive outreach function into our adult community teams we constantly review how best we can support those who have severe and enduring mental
NSFT – A Warning from History: “Assertive Outreach was simply airbrushed out” Read More »
A damning report’s highlighted the challenges facing NHS staff looking after some of Norfolk’s most vulnerable patients. Unmanageable workloads, intolerable pressure and insufficient resources are just some of the issues raised in interviews with staff at the Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust. They argue a 40 million pound savings programme has decimated the service –
Nicholas Carding of the EDP reports: A governor of the mental health trust has said the publication of the Alexander report should have been handled more openly and honestly. The report, written by Marie Alexander, acting clinical education lead for the trust, was written in 2014 following surveys of staff. Sue Whitaker, who is also
EDP: Mental health trust boss admits staff report should have been handled differently Read More »
We’ve been called liars, trolls and mental health extremists. We say we simply told the truth and fought for decent mental health services. Read the story from inside NSFT and make up your own mind. How was this allowed to happen? Why haven’t the CCGs funded mental health properly? How were all the warnings ignored?
EDP: In depth: Extracts from the report into mental staff and their views on changes Read More »
Campaign supporters should buy the EDP today. We need to support high-quality investigative journalism which has played a key role in holding Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) to account, as it did at Mid Staffs, in the absence of any meaningful response to the crisis in mental health services from the Department of
The EDP reports: The region’s ailing mental health trust has refused to release a highly-critical report containing the views of some of its staff, claiming that doing so would stop workers from raising issues in future. Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust was placed in special measures in February and is also under investigation by
Kept in the Dark: EDP: Mental health trust rejects efforts to reveal damning report Read More »
Michael Scott has announced a further £36 million of cuts/savings at Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) on top of the £44 million cuts/savings of the radical redesign which directly led to NSFT’s inadequate rating by the CQC and Special Measures. That’s a total of £80 million of cuts/savings over eight years but, as
BBC News: Norfolk and Suffolk mental health trust plans £36m savings Read More »
Yet again, the Chair of Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT), Gary Page, demonstrates that NSFT is incapable of genuine transparency, as he tries to hide the devastating impact of its calamitous radical redesign and refuses our appeal for the Alexander Report to be published. Of course, we haven’t received any response to the
Kept in the Dark: NSFT blocks our appeal against refusal to release the Alexander Report Read More »
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
BBC News: Norfolk and Suffolk mental health trust sees 41% rise in serious incidents Read More »
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”.
BBC News: Norfolk and Suffolk mental health funding plan prompts dispute Read More »
NHS England wrote to us a couple of weeks ago: I am sorry that the response to your internal review request is taking longer to complete than our standard and the understandable frustration this may be causing you. Further to your initial Internal Review request, the panel convened on 8 April 2015 and we hope
Kept in the Dark: NHS England doesn’t even keep to its own deadlines Read More »
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
Hat tip to The Independent.
Kept in the Dark: Whitewash? The Alexander Report Read More »
Our decision to publish the chain of emails between our campaign and Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) finally forced a response from Michael Scott, the £175,000 per year Chief Executive of NSFT, on 30th April 2015. We submitted our original FOI request in December 2014. NSFT is supposed to respond in 20 days.
We originally wrote to NHS England in September 2014 – more than seven months ago. Firstly, we wanted to discover what the chief architect of the radical redesign and Operations Director (Norfolk) of Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) was doing after Michael Scott emailed staff announcing her promotion to work for Geraldine Strathdee,
Tom Bristow of the EDP reports: Monitor, which placed the Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust (NSFT) in special measures in February, has arranged for staff from Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust to improve services and staffing levels in Norfolk and Suffolk. Monitor said in a statement: “Access to this advice and expertise will enable Norfolk
EDP: Troubled mental health service to get help from Nottingham Read More »
