BBC News: Norfolk and Suffolk mental health trust chief executive to retire

The BBC reports:

The chief executive of a troubled mental health trust, which came out of special measures in October, is standing down.

The trust was placed in special measures by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in February 2015, but was taken out of special measures in 2016.

A new report from the CQC is expected next month.

NSFT chair Gary Page said: “We wish him a well-deserved retirement.”

The estimated £85,000 per year taxpayer-funded index-linked NHS pension is probably less deserved.

Norfolk’s self-proclaimed ‘mental health champion’ inevitably defends the man appointed on his watch:

Former health minister and North Norfolk MP Norman Lamb said: “I’m surprised at the news.

“Michael has massively steadied the ship after enormous trauma for many years.

“The trust is moving in the right direction. There is a long way to go, but Michael has made a substantial commitment to that.”

Duplicitous Norman Lamb failed to stop the catastrophe at Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT).

The ‘enormous trauma’ was caused by massive cuts to mental health nationwide which duplicitous Norman Lamb oversaw as the Coalition Minister of State for Care and Support at the Department of Health directly responsible for mental health.

Norman Lamb claims the ‘trust is moving in the right direction.’ We will see what the experts from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) found during their inspection. We suspect they won’t agree with Norman Lamb. Perhaps Norman Lamb should stick to his new job of chairing the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee despite being an employment lawyer? Sadly, Norman Lamb knows as much about science and technology as he knows about mental health.

A spokesman for the Campaign to Save Mental Health Services in Norfolk and Suffolk said: “We have long been calling for a new board and management culture at NSFT which puts patients and carers first and foremost and genuinely engages with front line staff.”

Emma Corlett, Norfolk county councillor and health scrutiny committee member, said the future chief executive would need to take “decisive action” to improve services.

“It does not change the fact that mental health services are understaffed and underfunded,” she added.

As a mental health nurse and Norfolk County Council’s mental health champion, Emma Corlett speaks the truth about mental health services in Norfolk and Suffolk.

Click on the image below to read the story in full on the BBC News website:

3 thoughts on “BBC News: Norfolk and Suffolk mental health trust chief executive to retire”

  1. Norman Lamb continues to be in a state of denial. He did not leave his own son in the care of NSFT which illustrates his duplicity. He trots out words of support for NSFT, but does not have the detailed knowledge needed to say that the Trust is moving very far in the right direction. The staff and clinicians are caring and dedicated, but the whole management team of NSFT needs new dynamnic, creative, responsive, honest leadership. Let’s hope CQC’s inspection report digs deeper that Norman Lamb’s superficial confidence that services are improving.

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