EDP: Mental health patients in our region are being failed by the government, says MP

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Having our campaigning local media and one MP who genuinely cares about mental health makes such a difference. Annabelle Dickson, Political Editor of the EDP, reports: Norfolk and Suffolk mental health services would have almost £70m a year more if they were treated in the same way as physical health, the Norwich South MP has claimed. […]

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Kept in the Dark: NSFT’s Board won’t face the public as services go down the toilet

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We’ve raised the issue of members of the Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) Board sitting with their backsides to the public, sometimes not even turning around to answer direct questions from the public, before, as have others. It is discourteous. From the minutes of the NSFT Board meeting held on 22nd October, released

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EDP: Figures show that mental health funding in Norfolk and Suffolk is not keeping pace

Bed Crisis, CAMHS Crisis, Community Crisis, Crisis Team Crisis, Dangerous, Financial crisis, NSFT Cuts, Press, Special Measures / By

David Powles of the EDP has been investigating whether mental health has been receiving its fair share of NHS funding. The EDP has discovered that despite increasing demand and mental health services being rated Inadequate by the Care Quality Commission and Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) being in Special Measures, the unaccountable commissioners

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EDP: Union backs Mental Health Watch campaign – and highlights ongoing concerns in Norfolk and Suffolk

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David Powles of the EDP reports: Bosses of the trust used their recent AGM to proclaim of turning a corner, but Ms Corlett says while some things have improved – there’s a long way to go before staff feel that is the case. She explained: “A lot of staff still feel angry about how change

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EDP Front Page Exclusive: Number of deaths at Norfolk and Suffolk mental health service surges

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Nick Carding of the EDP reports exclusively: Campaigners say their “worst fears have been confirmed” after it emerged that the number of unexpected deaths of mental health patients in the region is continuing to rise. Figures published by the region’s mental health trust show more patients died unexpectedly in the first half of this financial

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EDP: Mental health survey’s ‘damning’ findings to be used to hold Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Trust to account

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Andrew Hirst of the EDP reports: The Stepping Forward survey results presented in Ipswich at the Suffolk User Forum event was intended to show how far the NSFT had improved in the view of its service users after being placed in special measures earlier this year. Although the trust has agreed measures to improve since

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BBC News: Mental health death after Norfolk and Suffolk trust failure

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Nic Rigby of the BBC reports: A mental health patient died after a “failure” to respond in a “timely way” by a stretched health trust team, a report says. The Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust report said there were “serious capacity issues” with its crisis resolution team. It says another death occurred after a patient

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Kept in the Dark: Artist’s Impression of chart showing increasing unexpected deaths among those who rely on NSFT

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We challenged Gary Page, the Chair of Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT), to publish NSFT’s data on unexpected deaths after his report to the NSFT Board stated he was “concerned” at the increase in unexpected community deaths from 95 in 2013-14 to 130 in 2014-15. On the same day Gary Page refused to publish,

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Healthwatch Suffolk: Meeting on 18th November 2015 at East of England Co-op Education Centre, Ipswich IP4 1JW

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Healthwatch Suffolk and Suffolk User Forum have organised a meeting to give initial feedback on their survey of those who rely on mental health services in Suffolk: “Our initial survey results show that in some key areas services have not improved since the Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust was placed in special measures by Monitor”

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Gallery: Slides from Public Meeting: What is happening at NSFT? Do we still need a campaign?

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You can view the presentation in the Gallery below or download the slides as a pdf to view offline, distribute or print.   The sources of the employment data are the various Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) Annual Report and Accounts published between 2011 and 2015. The sources of the Serious Incident (SI)

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NSFT claims it has enough beds… so WHY DID A PATIENT SLEEP IN THE CORRIDOR LAST NIGHT?

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If Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) has enough beds as it claims, why was a patient forced to sleep on a mattress on the floor in the corridor of Waveney Ward at Hellesdon Hospital last night? What would the CQC think about that? Shameful.

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EDP: Mental health trust determined to solve recruitment challenges as government tightens rules on agency nursing spend

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Nicholas Carding, Health Correspondent of the EDP reports: A shortage of permanent nursing staff at several mental health wards in Norfolk has today prompted concerns over patient safety. Directors of Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) will discuss staffing issues at a meeting in Norwich tomorrow, with a senior manager warn-ing the problem poses

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Carer’s letter to the Guardian: ‘Will it be my relative next?’

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15th October 2015 Despite family pleas for appropriate treatment, a long term user of Norfolk’s mental health services cut her own throat today.  Visited by a Social worker yesterday, she was “placed on the waiting list for assessment under the Mental Health Act” because when last seen she was observed to be suffering harrowing hallucinations

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Fantasy Island: The CQC Video Files: ‘Well-led’

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What’s the best thing to come out of service strategy? A majority of respondents replied ‘nothing’ when asked their views on the best thing to come out of Service Strategy. One reflected sadly, ‘finding positives is difficult. I rely on finding positives for my clients’. Alexander Report This ‘corporate video’ was made in preparation for

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EDP: We’re at a turning point, says Norfolk and Suffolk mental health chief

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David Powles of the Eastern Daily Press reports: Michael Scott, Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust chief executive, pledged at yesterday’s AGM it had learned from its mistakes and promised that high quality, safe services would become ‘the norm not the exception’. However, his promises have been met with apprehension from mental health campaigners, who say

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BBC News: Spend on patients out of area up 400pc

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The BBC reports: Spending on sending Norfolk and Suffolk mental health patients outside the two counties has risen four-fold in a year, new figures show. The annual report for the Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust says it spent £3.3m on placements outside the area in 2014-15 compared with £800,000 in 2013-14. It says this was

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EDP: Four-fold increase in bill to send mental health patients out of the region

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The Eastern Daily Press reports: A lack of beds and increased demand led to a four-fold increase in the cost of sending people with mental health problems outside of Norfolk and Suffolk in 2014/15. When a bed on a ward is not available for people who need it in the region they are sent elsewhere

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EDP: ‘You seem to be a board that’s in denial’ – number of deaths rise at Norfolk and Suffolk mental health trust

Bed Crisis, CAMHS Crisis, Campaigning, Community Crisis, Crisis Team Crisis, Dangerous, Kept in the dark, NSFT Cuts, PR Crisis, Press, Questions for the Board / By

An internal investigation has been launched into mental health services in Suffolk and Norfolk after the number of patient deaths increased from 95 to 130 in a year. It means that the average number of deaths, including in accidents and suicides by people known to professionals to be living with a mental health disorder, has

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EADT: Number of deaths among Suffolk and Norfolk mental health patients rises by a third in one year

Bed Crisis, CAMHS Crisis, Campaigning, Community Crisis, Crisis Team Crisis, Dangerous, Kept in the dark, NSFT Cuts, PR Crisis, Press, Questions for the Board / By

Ellis Barker of the East Anglian Daily Times reports: An internal investigation has been launched into mental health services in Suffolk and Norfolk after the number of patient deaths increased from 95 to 130 in a year. It means the average number of deaths, including in accidents and suicides by people known to professionals to

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A funeral every ten days: Campaign statement on the increase in deaths in the community

Bed Crisis, CAMHS Crisis, Campaigning, Community Crisis, Crisis Team Crisis, Dangerous, NSFT Cuts, Press, Questions for the Board / By

“Ours is a moral campaign, founded in November 2013 by mental health staff deeply concerned about cuts and service closures at NSFT and what they believed was a cluster of preventable deaths caused by the so-called ‘radical redesign’ process. Those brave staff have been joined by more than two thousand users of mental health services,

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