EDP: Graphic – The large rise in the number of patients dying unexpectedly at the NSFT

In 2012-13, 7.3 patients of Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) died unexpectedly each month.

Each and every year since, the number of patients of NSFT dying unexpectedly has increased significantly.

Our campaign was founded in 2013 by staff concerned about unnecessary deaths as a result of the cuts and chaos of the radical redesign at NSFT.

More than two years ago, in 2014, at the NSFT Board of Directors meeting in Swaffham, we raised concerns about increasing and preventable deaths as a result of the radical redesign. A director of NSFT shamefully demanded that our questions were struck from the minutes. That director is still a member of the Board of NSFT.

In 2015, when we asked for the release of NSFT’s statistics on unexpected deaths, the Chair of NSFT, Gary Page, refused. Gary Page remains the Chair of NSFT.

In the time that NSFT has been in Special Measures, the number of deaths has continued to climb significantly.

In each of the first two months of 2016-17, 21 patients have died. Never have so many patients of NSFT died unexpectedly. These are tragic and shameful records.

In only four years, the number of unexpected deaths at NSFT has increased threefold.

How can the Board of NSFT be deemed safe, well-led or responsive while the number of deaths continues to climb and NSFT remains so complacent?

Until NSFT is properly funded and run in the best interests of patients, rather than in the narrow self-interest of the NSFT Board and its most senior managers, the experience of service users, carers and front line staff will not improve.