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 the recommendations that will follow in order to continue to improve our trust.”
The CQC published a damning report into the service in 2015, including concerns about the safety of services, staffing levels and leadership.
A spokesperson 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.
“Michael Scott’s sudden retirement could represent the beginning of an opportunity to turn around mental health services in Norfolk and Suffolk. But new management is not enough – mental health services have to be properly resourced as well as competently managed. Our politicians need to make sure that local commissioners and NHS England need to step up to provide enough money, beds and staff for decent mental health services.
“For service users, carers and staff to have any faith in the leadership of the new interim chief executive of NSFT, we need Julie Cave to accept the CQC’s findings.
“We fear that Michael Scott’s departure precedes the publication of a new and devastating CQC report in the next few days. We do not believe that Michael Scott’s departure alone will be sufficient to stop the rot and the NHS and government needs to commit to doing everything to put matters right at NSFT, the people of Norfolk and Suffolk have been let down and ignored for far too long.”
Read the article in full on the EDP website by clicking on the image below:
