Nikki Fox, Health Correspondent of the BBC, reports: A woman said she was “very angry” after her elderly mother caught Covid-19 following a move to a hospital hundreds of miles away. Kay Cantell said her mother Kathleen, 73, was transferred from Norfolk to Darlington in September. “I was very angry to think that she’s gone […]
BBC News: Covid-19: Patient gets virus after 240-mile hospital move Read More »
A spokesperson from the Campaign to Save Mental Health Services in Norfolk and Suffolk said: “People in crisis need real services, not being patronised with cups of tea and endless signposting to long waiting lists or non-existent services. There are already drop-in centres, cafés and NHS services but their funding is deeply inadequate and has
Press Release: Campaign statement on the delays to the cuts café Read More »
Geraldine Scott of the Eastern Daily Press reports: A crisis hub pegged to help stem the number of mental health patients sent miles away due to a lack of beds has been delayed by a year in part due to debates over the building it will be in. A wellbeing hub – also known as
“I came! I saw! I turned around!” The Director of Corporate Affairs and Communications of the worst-run mental health trust in the NHS, Rebecca Driver, only appointed just before Christmas, demonstrates her commitment to mental health, her faith in Antek Lejk and her loyalty to NSFT by quitting in the New Year. Let’s bet there
Matthew Weaver of The Guardian reports: The health secretary, Matt Hancock, is facing mounting calls to intervene in England’s worst performing mental health trust after it was rated inadequate for a third time. There have been more than 250 extra deaths in Norfolk and Suffolk over the past five years as a result of the
The Guardian: Ministers urged to act over Norfolk and Suffolk mental health trust Read More »
We expect Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) to receive yet another atrocious inspection report from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) on Wednesday 28th November. We have planned a week of action across Norfolk and Suffolk. Wednesday 28th November: Protest against the Board of NSFT outside the main (top entrance) to Hellesdon Hospital, Drayton
Three Days of Action: Hat-trick of failure: Three strikes and you’re out! Read More »
In investigative reporting that is worthy of a national journalism award, Jessica Frank-Keyes of the Eastern Daily Press writes: Grieving parents and a retired GP say “remote, awful and inhumane” mental health support is leaving young men in north Norfolk at a heightened risk of taking their own lives. In recent months two young men
As part of its current inspection of Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT), inspectors from the regulators of care, Care Quality Commission (CQC), would like to meet to hear current views of the care delivered by the mental health trust for Norfolk and Suffolk. The last time CQC inspected NSFT, one year ago, it
Geraldine Scott of the Eastern Daily Press reports: The new boss of the region’s mental health trust has expressed his disappointment after it was revealed service users and carers gave him low scores during the interview process. The scores weren’t just low. The large and heterogeneous service user and carer appointment panel came to the
Robby West and Matt Precey of the BBC report: The parents of a mentally ill ex-soldier warned a health trust he was collecting knives before he murdered an 83-year-old dog walker. Alexander Palmer, 24, stabbed Peter Wrighton 45 times in woodland near East Harling, Norfolk, in August. A letter from a Norfolk and Suffolk NHS
BBC News: Peter Wrighton murder: Alexander Palmer doctors ‘warned’ of knife hoard Read More »
Geraldine Scott of the Eastern Daily Press reports: The region’s mental health trust has pledged to eradicate the use of out of area beds by 2021. Oh dear. That’s three years away, a national target and seven years after commissioners’ original promise to end the use of out of area beds before the end of
EDP: Mental health trust’s pledge to eradicate out of area placements by 2021 Read More »
Gemma Mitchell of the Eastern Daily Press reports: A mental health boss has hit out and branded it ‘utterly indefensible’ that a bid for more than £5m which would be used to address safety concerns was snubbed by the government. We understand that the Improvement Director, imposed upon Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT)
Gemma Mitchell of the East Anglian Daily Times reports: A Suffolk father is facing a six-hour round trip to visit his vulnerable son following the closure of a vital mental health unit in Ipswich. A Stowmarket man whose 20-year-old son is a patient on Lark Ward, based in the grounds of Ipswich Hospital, has spoken
Healthwatch Suffolk comments on the announcement of the closure of the Suffolk PICU by Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT): Healthwatch Suffolk note with serious concern the news that the Lark Ward, a psychiatric intensive care unit (PICU) run by Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust (NSFT) at Woodlands, will close from Friday 6th April
Matthew Gudgin of the BBC interviews a spokesperson for our campaign and the interim Chief Executive of Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT), Julie Cave, about the closure of yet another 36 mental health beds in Norfolk and Suffolk. We are asked whether we have any confidence in the newly-appointed Chief Executive of NSFT,
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
BBC News: Norfolk and Suffolk mental health beds closures ‘shocking’ Read More »
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
EADT: ‘This is a humanitarian disaster’ – Mental health trust closes 36 beds Read More »
The bureaucrats who commission NHS mental health services in Norfolk have decided to run their consultation into the proposed cuts café over the Christmas and New Year holiday period, thus ensuring as few people as possible respond. Commissioners tried to do a back-door deal to give a ‘pilot’ cuts café contract to Norfolk Mind without
Beds not Tea: Cuts Café Consultation: Last chance to respond Read More »
Geraldine Scott of the Eastern Daily Press reports: New data has revealed the number of doctors at the region’s mental health trust has shrunk over the last five years – whilst the number of managers has risen. Figures from the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) showed in July 2017 there were 20.3pc fewer
