Dedicated front line staff continued to do everything they could to offer a responsive service despite the cuts and chaos of the ‘radical redesign’. Their warnings and concerns were largely ignored by the arrogant and complacent management and Board of Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) with appalling results.
This ‘corporate video’ was made in preparation for the visit of the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT).
This visit, which resulted in an ‘Inadequate’ rating and the NHS regulator, Monitor, placing NSFT into Special Measures, took place months after the completion of the interviews for the Alexander Report into the catastrophic consequences of the radical redesign at NSFT.
We tried to use the Freedom of Information Act to force the Board of NSFT to publish the Alexander Report, the release of which was clearly in the public interest.
NSFT fought tooth and nail against the publication of the damning report, only finally releasing a redacted version after the Alexander Report’s leaking and publication by the EDP after its suppression was raised at Prime Minister’s Questions by Clive Lewis MP.
The ‘corporate video’ is remarkable for the absence of service users and carers and the predominance of middle managers.
When we first raised concerns about the radical redesign, NSFT’s response was to massively increase its Comms budget and to waste thousands of pounds of NHS funds on expensive lawyers attempting to stop service users, carers and staff telling the truth about the cuts and chaos.
Wouldn’t the Board of NSFT be better advised to concentrate on the delivery of decent services rather than making ‘corporate videos’?