BBC News: Norfolk and Suffolk mental health beds closures ‘shocking’

The BBC reports: Thirty-six mental health beds are being closed by Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust, eight of them permanently. Further details have emerged after it was revealed a mental health ward in Ipswich would be temporarily shut. The trust said the closures “were in the best interests of patients”. But the Campaign to […]

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EADT: ‘This is a humanitarian disaster’ – Mental health trust closes 36 beds

Gemma Mitchell of the East Anglian Daily Times reports: The region’s beleaguered mental health trust has had to shut 36 beds since autumn, it has been revealed. Beds have closed in Ipswich, Norwich, Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft. At least eight of the bed closures are permanent. Service users and carers and their organisations received little

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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

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EDP: Mental health trust boss Michael Scott retires with immediate effect ahead of pending inspection report

Geraldine Scott of the Eastern Daily Press reports: The boss of the region’s beleaguered mental health trust is retiring with immediate effect. The trust recently had its third inspection and NSFT chair Gary Page said as they “await the inspection report, Michael feels now is the appropriate time for a new leader to take forward

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EDP: Mental health crisis services in Norfolk are ‘uncaring, unwelcoming, unsafe and ineffective’ says new report

Geraldine Scott of the Eastern Daily Press reports: “Tell them you are suicidal and they do nothing”. This is one of the shocking comments made by people in desperate need about Norfolk’s mental health crisis care. They are revealed today in a damning report by Healthwatch Norfolk, which spoke to 680 crisis care users –

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General Election 2017: Questions for Keith Simpson, Conservatives, Broadland

Dear Keith, Here are some questions for you about mental health in Broadland: Do you agree that it is a scandal that the age-adjusted three-year-rolling suicide rate, as published by the Office of National Statistics (ONS), rose by a staggering 164 per cent in Broadland between 2010-12 and 2013-15 while you were the Conservative MP

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General Election 2017: No questions for Clive Lewis, Labour, Norwich South

We don’t have any questions for Clive Lewis. Clive Lewis walked from Ipswich to Norwich to highlight the devastating cuts to mental health before he was elected to be the MP for Norwich South. Clive Lewis joined hundreds of local people on both of our Marches for Mental Health. Clive Lewis has consistently supported our

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General Election 2017: Questions for Chloe Smith, Conservatives, Norwich North

  You’ve claimed to be interested in mental health. Here are some questions for you about mental health in Norwich: Do you agree that it is a scandal that the age-adjusted three-year-rolling suicide rate, as published by the Office of National Statistics, rose by a staggering 33 per cent in Norwich between 2010-12 and 2013-15

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General Election 2017: Questions for Norman Lamb, Liberal Democrats, North Norfolk

Dear Norman, You say you are the ‘mental health champion.’ So here are some questions for you about mental health in North Norfolk: Do you agree that it is a scandal that the age-adjusted three-year-rolling suicide rate, as published by the Office of National Statistics, rose by a staggering 77 per cent in North Norfolk

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Fixed, Flawed Farce: Part 2: EDP: Half of mental health beds budget for Norfolk and Suffolk spent in first month of year

Tom Bristow, Investigations Editor of the Eastern Daily Press reports: Last year the Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust (NSFT) went £3.5m over budget on sending patients to beds at other facilities, including private hospitals and out of the area. Its budget for buying beds from other providers is £1m a year. But it used almost

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Fixed, Flawed Farce: Part 1: ‘No decisions about me, without me’

Below is a list of the people interviewed in the so-called ‘wide range of engagement meetings with local stakeholders’ during the £58,000 Beds Review. Thirty-nine are senior employees of Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT). Five are commissioning bureaucrats. None are service users. None are bereaved relatives. None are carers. None are from patient

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Radical Redesign Heroes: Where are the TSSers now? Part 4: Andrew Hopkins, Finance Director then acting Chief Executive then Finance Director, NSFT

During the radical redesign, Andrew Hopkins was Finance Director of Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT), becoming acting Chief Executive after the resignation of Aidan Thomas in July 2013. While Andrew Hopkins ‘acted-up’, NSFT employed astonishingly expensive interim finance directors. NSFT wasted unbelievable sums, millions of pounds, on redundancy and early retirement payments in the midst

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Eventbrite: Revealed: Britain’s Mental Health Crisis on 6th February 2017 at 8.30 p.m.

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Radical Redesign Heroes: Where are the TSSers now? Part 2: Aidan Thomas, Chief Executive, NSFT

Aidan ‘I’m No Dirty Den’ Thomas was the Chief Executive of Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) during the Trust Service Strategy (TSS) consultation process, better known as the ‘radical redesign’. The ‘radical redesign’ was condemned by the King’s Fund in the Health Service Journal (HSJ) and is widely regarded as an unmitigated disaster which resulted in

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Radical Redesign Heroes: Where are the TSSers now? Part 1: Hadrian Ball, Medical Director, NSFT

Hadrian Ball was the Medical Director and highest-paid member of the Board of Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) throughout the Trust Service Strategy (TSS), better known as the ‘radical redesign’. The ‘radical redesign’ was condemned by the King’s Fund in the Health Service Journal (HSJ) and is widely regarded as an unmitigated disaster which

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Guardian: Police says its forces are becoming emergency mental health services

Vikram Dodd in the Guardian reports: Police say they are being relied on as an emergency mental health service and that cuts in psychiatric provision are probably to blame, the Guardian has learned. Officers point to an increase of more than 50% in a decade in the use of powers to detain people under section

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Express and Star: Mental health patient spent 64 HOURS in police custody because there were no NHS beds in the country

The country has run out of mental health beds after the closure of more than two thousand NHS beds. The Express and Star reports: A mental health patient spent 64 hours in police custody, taking 22 officers off the streets and costing taxpayers’ £20,000 – because there were no available NHS beds in the entire country.

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Research: Specialist mental health services in England in 2014: overview of funding, access and levels of care

Specialist mental health services in England in 2014: overview of funding, access and levels of care Mary Docherty and Graham Thornicroft International Journal of Mental Health Systems 2015 9:34 DOI: 10.1186/s13033-015-0023-9 © Docherty and Thornicroft. 2015 Abstract Background Since the economic recession began in 2008 anecdotal reports suggest that mental health services in England have experienced disinvestment, but published data to test

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BBC News: Mental health crisis care ‘inadequate’

Nick Triggle of the BBC reports: People who need urgent mental health care in England are receiving inadequate support, regulators say. The Care Quality Commission reviewed the help given to people in mental health crisis, which includes people who are suicidal, having serious panic attacks or psychotic episodes. The regulator said the system was “struggling

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Guardian: ‘System failure’ of NHS mental health services puts pressure on A&E wards

Haroon Siddique of the Guardian reports: Large numbers of people with mental health issues are ending up in A&E wards because of “system failure”, according to leaked minutes of a government-attended steering group. The meeting heard that people with mental illness are presenting themselves at emergency wards because of inadequate provision for them in the

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