Today, officials meet at NHS Improvement (NHSI) to decide whether Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation should be released from Special Measures. Usually, when a health trust is put into Special Measures, money follows from commissioners to help put things right. This has not happened at NSFT. In fact, it has been difficult to get NHS […]
No wonder the Eastern Daily Press has been shortlisted for a mental health journalism award. Andrew Papworth reports: A teenage mental health patient sent to hospital 206 miles away from home while recovering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after a violent assault has said: “We must campaign for local hospitals.” Sarah Barrett was 16 and studying
UPDATE: For campaigners travelling by train from Norwich, why not join us on the 1200 train to Ipswich? Meet outside the Norwich train station ticket office at 1145. Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) has seen the number of unexpected deaths of people in its care more than double from around seven per month
Nicholas Carding of the Eastern Daily Press reports: Dr Sue Crossman, chief officer of West Norfolk Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), today announced she has resigned after seven years as the health commissioning lead for West Norfolk. It follows the resignations of Andy Evans, of Great Yarmouth and Waveney CCG, earlier this month, and Mark Taylor
EDP: Third CCG boss resigns inside three months Read More »
Nicholas Carding of the Norwich Evening News reports on the closure of yet another 24 beds for the elderly on the Julian Hospital site: A 24-bed ward which helps a hospital discharge patients faster will close in three weeks – less than two years after opening. So much for stopping bed blocking. The Henderson Unit,
Evening News: Anger over decision to close ‘excellent’ 24-bed ward in Norwich Read More »
When the Chief Executive of Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) appeared before the Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee (HOSC) of Norfolk County Council, he barely deployed a number, percentage or fact. Instead, Michael Scott gave a very long list of excuses, including: “I’m not going to get into a numbers game” “most people
Jason Beattie of the Mirror reports: Jeremy Hunt has failed to meet his pledge to increase funding on mental health, figures show today. Freedom of Information requests reveal the amount of money spent on mental health could be cut for the third year in a row. More than half of clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) –
Mirror: Jeremy Hunt breaks his pledge to raise spending on mental health Read More »
There is an opportunity for patients, families and carers to feedback to management and commissioners about proposed changes to Early Intervention (EI) in Psychosis services at Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT). Even though this event is taking place in Norwich, it is for people from across Norfolk and Suffolk. Despite NSFT’s protestations of
Nicholas Carding of the Eastern Daily Press reports: Spending on wages for senior health bosses in Norfolk and Waveney has risen by nearly 15pc in the last three years – despite demands for millions of pounds to be saved locally. Wages for senior members at the five Norfolk and Waveney Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) rose
Nicholas Carding of the Eastern Daily Press reports: Campaigners say they are “deeply troubled” after it emerged the number of mental health patients waiting longer than national standards for treatment has risen by nearly 200pc. Under the NHS constitution patients should be treated within 18 weeks of referral but new figures reveal 280 patients waited
Tom Bristow of the Archant Investigations Unit reports: The region’s troubled mental health service has been accused of failing to learn from its mistakes after it emerged that nowhere in the country had more concerns raised about mental health deaths than Norfolk and Suffolk. Coroners have written to the Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust (NSFT)
EDP: Deaths at mental health service show lack of learning, says doctor Read More »
In an excellent letter to the Eastern Daily Press, Brian Watkins, Liberal Democrat county councillor for the Eaton Division of Norfolk County Council writes: It is deeply disturbing to learn that there has been a big increase in the number of patients under the care of the Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust who have died unexpectedly. Despite repeated reassurances that the situation would be
EDP: Letter: Reasons for rise in unexpected deaths need to be established Read More »
Tom Bristow of the Archant Investigations Unit reports in the Eastern Daily Press: A record number of patients are dying unexpectedly each month at the region’s troubled mental health trust, despite years of reassurances and reviews into the problem. Campaigners and families of those who have died reacted with horror today to the latest set
Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) is busy denying its own plans for ‘Putting People First’ now that they have become public. Here is what the Board of NSFT wrote in its own Annual Operational Plan 2016-17 in April 2016 to its regulator, Monitor: Over any year we anticipate our staff numbers to change,
Caroline Price of Pulse reports: A whole generation of children is being failed by mental health services, say GPs who struggle to access specialist help for their patients. Seven out of the 15 trusts showed marked reductions. For example, at Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust the proportion treated fell from 42% to 26%,
Pulse: Why do 60% of GP child mental health referrals end with no treatment? Read More »
Caroline Price of Pulse reports: Figures obtained from 15 mental health trusts reveal that 60% of GP referrals to child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) lead to no treatment and a third are not even assessed. The situation for young people with mental health issues appears to be worsening, with the numbers of referrals
Pulse: Two-thirds of GP referrals for child mental health lead to no treatment Read More »
Nic Rigby of the BBC reports: There has been a “significant increase” in the number of Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust mental health patients sent out of its area in May, a report to its board has found. Click on the image below to read the article in full on the BBC website:
BBC News: ‘Significant increase’ in mental health patients being sent out of area Read More »
The EDP printed this letter from the Campaign to Save Mental Health Services in Norfolk and Suffolk on Saturday 18th June 2016: Dear Editor So, the Independent Inquiry into the deaths of patients under the care of Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) has concluded that the number of these deaths is no worse
EDP: Letter: Shocking Figures Reveal Impact of cuts on Mental Health Services Read More »
The number of out of trust acute (OOA) bed days has nearly doubled: from 332 days in April 2016 to 647 days in May 2016. Most of these patients are being sent to the expensive, remote and private Mundesley Hospital, where it seems that none of the medical staff have passed the exams of the Royal
Compare what Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) claimed in 2013 with what NSFT claims in 2016. What has changed except that NSFT suffered 45 unexpected deaths in the first three months of 2016 compared with 22 per quarter in 2012-13? While the number of deaths has doubled, the excuses remain the same. Most
NSFT – A Warning from History: Unexpected deaths: 2013 vs 2016: Has anything changed? Read More »
