BBC News: Norfolk and Suffolk mental health trust plans £36m savings

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 […]

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

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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Mirror: Another Tory government will lead to a mental health services crisis, warn top health staff

Jason Beattie of the Daily Mirror reports: In a letter to the Daily Mirror more than 100 mental health workers say the Coalition have conducted a “sustained and vicious” attack on frontline services. “We believe that this has put any member of the public with mental health needs at serious risk. “We cannot continue to

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

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

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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Roast Lamb! EDP: Second Norfolk NHS trust [NSFT] withdraws from mutual-ownership ‘pathfinders’ scheme

Mark Shields of the EDP reports: The Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust’s decision follows the decision of the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital (N&N) to opt out of becoming one of nine pathfinder trusts examining mutual ownership. Chief executive Michael Scott said the decision had been taken by the board in light of feedback from

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Daily Telegraph: Whistleblowing: NHS crushes those who speak out, Sir Robert Francis QC warns

Laura Donnelly of the Daily Telegraph reports: Sir Robert believes that many of the worst failings in the NHS occur when clinical staff become powerless — are left “shrugging their shoulders” rather than challenging poor care. As he made a public call for evidence, he told The Telegraph that he feared too many had been hounded out

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Kept in the Dark: BBC exclusively reports that Norman Lamb’s own acute trust abandons his mutuality Pathfinder programme

In an email to Unison, leaked to the BBC, the hospital’s head of communications Fiona Devine said: “Our particular interest in the project was to learn from others about their experience of enhanced staff engagement and the potential result in benefits for patients. “Since then, we have received further information about the project… in light

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Video: itv NEWS Anglia – Mental Health Trust condemned as inadequate

Norman Lamb MP appears on itv NEWS Anglia as a campaigner, a self-proclaimed mental health champion: “It is misguided to think that you can reduce spending in mental health and not expect consequences to that” So, who is the Minister of State at the Department of Health directly responsible for mental health who has overseen

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

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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Computer Weekly: Health trust proposed offshoring mental care through Skype

More coverage of the Skype proposal from NSFT. Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust’s innovative proposals have now even made it into the computer industry trade press. Click on the image below to read the full article:  

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EDP: A half-way house to privatisation?

Care minister Norman Lamb denied yesterday that mutuals were a step to privatisation, after campaigners claimed the NSFT could leave the NHS. But a spokesman for the Campaign to Save Mental Health Services in Norfolk and Suffolk, which put in the Freedom of Information request, said: “Staff are up in arms about this. It is

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EDP: Move to improve staff morale causes an upset

Tom Bristow of the EDP reports: But in a move which has done nothing for staff morale the trust suggested employing workers in low wage countries to talk to mental health patients over Skype, in its application to secure government funding to research the project. The NSFT’s full application for government money to explore becoming

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BBC News: Norfolk and Suffolk mental health Skype ‘outsourcing’ causes concern

 Emma Corlett, spokeswoman for Unison at the trust, said: “Our view of the report is that it shows whoever did the application did not have a very clear understanding of the work frontline staff do or the way face-to-face therapy works. “We want a skilled and well-paid workforce here and we should not be looking

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EDP: Mental health chief vows to improve staff morale as depression, stress and anxiety hits one in four sick workers

Emma Corlett, Unison steward at the NSFT, said: “The figures match what we have seen on the ground. “There are a number of factors that have impacted on staff, including significant loss of resources and the reorganisation of services. “The consequences of that was people applying for their own jobs and in some cases colleagues

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Video: BBC Look East interview mental health nurse Emma Corlett about Monitor’s investigation of NSFT

Watch the video below. If you are an Apple user and have trouble viewing the embedded video you can view it directly on Youtube. Sorry, this issue is a sometime side effect of the on-going battle between Google and Apple which is beyond our control.  

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Video: BBC Look East on Monitor’s Investigation into Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust

Watch the video below. If you are an Apple user and have trouble viewing the embedded video you can view it directly on Youtube. Sorry, this issue is a sometime side effect of the on-going battle between Google and Apple which is beyond our control.

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Audio: Monitor investigation of NSFT is lead interview on BBC Radio Norfolk Breakfast. Norman Lamb is unavailable.

Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) nurse and mental health campaigner, Emma Corlett of Unison, is interviewed by Nicky Price of the BBC. The investigation launched by the NHS regulator, Monitor, was the lead story on BBC Radio Norfolk Breakfast. Norman Lamb claimed to be unavailable for interview and could only issue a mealy-mouthed

Audio: Monitor investigation of NSFT is lead interview on BBC Radio Norfolk Breakfast. Norman Lamb is unavailable. Read More »

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