Karen says:
“Gateway House, our ‘The Office’-esque building on a business park in Wymondham which has no facilities whatsoever to see service users, is currently home to leaving cards, bunting and endless leaving do’s. By the end of March, around one quarter of our colleagues in already overstretched community teams will have been paid to leave. The cost is millions of pounds. But don’t for a minute believe the Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) spin that these are staff who aren’t needed where they are, or the whispered but disgraceful and completely fictitious claims that they are ‘dead wood.’ Most of these experienced, highly-trained and competent professionals are being directly replaced, many by expensive and transitory agency staff.”
NSFT has 361 active vacancies. Even when staff have permanent replacements, virtually none will be in post by the time the existing staff have left. What happens to those who rely on mental health services during this chaos? What about proper handovers or continuity of care? What a fiasco! If there is any ‘dead wood’ that needs chopping, it sits on the NSFT Board.