Nicholas Carding of the Eastern Daily Press reports: A sharp rise in the number of mental health patients dying unexpectedly coincided with the responsible organisation cutting nearly a quarter of its inpatient beds. Special investigations programme BBC Panorama, broadcast this evening, said the Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) cut 136 psychiatric beds from […]
Nicholas Carding of the Eastern Daily Press reports: The tragic saga of patients dying unexpectedly at the region’s mental health trust continues after it emerged the number of deaths could reach new heights this year. Plumb new depths, more like. Latest statistics from Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) show 140 patients suffered “unexpected
EDP: Unexpected deaths could reach new heights in mental health care Read More »
Nicholas Carding of the Eastern Daily Press reports: A 16-year old has described her stay in a private hospital where former teenage patients had left messages encouraging self-harm and assault on her room’s wall. Her room was completely bare – containing nothing but a sheetless bed and a window. She sat on the bed, mentally
Nicholas Carding of the Eastern Daily Press reports: The region’s mental health trust is set to spend nearly £3m more than budgeted on treating patients at other facilities this year, this newspaper can reveal. In April just 26 days were spent by NSFT patients at hospitals outside Norfolk and Suffolk, but by the end of
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 »
Nicholas Carding of the Eastern Daily Press reports: One in three staff who join the region’s mental health trust leaves again in less than 12 months, it has emerged. Meanwhile, levels of stress, anxiety, and depression among workers at Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) is higher than any other mental health trust in
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
Nicholas Carding of the Eastern Daily Press reports: Staffing levels at mental health wards are under the spotlight today after figures revealed a reduction of permanently employed nurses filling shifts. Figures show the trust’s fill-rate of nurses employed by NSFT is fluctuating between 80pc-90pc, meaning managers have to use extra funds to bring in temporary
EDP: Mental health trust struggling to fill nursing shifts on region’s inpatient wards Read More »
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 »
Nicholas Carding of the EDP reports: Mental health patients in West Norfolk who need acute treatment face being sent to Norwich or further for a hospital bed after bosses closed the last remaining unit to new admissions. But a spokesman for the Campaign to Save Mental Health Services in Norfolk and Suffolk described the situation
EDP: Last mental health inpatient unit in West Norfolk closes to new admissions Read More »
Nicholas Carding of the Eastern Daily Press reports on our meeting with Luciana Berger, Shadow Cabinet Minister for Mental Health and Clive Lewis, MP for Norwich South: A senior politician today said parity of esteem is still not occuring within the NHS. Ms Berger, MP for Liverpool Wavertree, met with members of Save Mental Health
Nicholas Carding of the EDP reports: Senior managers at Norfolk’s four clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) pocketed more than £100,000 in pay rises between 2013/14 and 2014/15, the latest figures available, which a former health minister has described as “unjustified”. According to official documents, the amount spent by the CCGs on wages rose by £350,000 from
EDP: How can they justify this? Read More »
Nicholas Carding of the EDP reports: Bosses at the Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) said they could not rule out closing the Fermoy Unit in King’s Lynn, because of problems with its design and safety. The unit is the only inpatient facility for mental-health patients in west Norfolk. Last month research by this
Another astonishingly powerful front page from Nicholas Carding, Health Correspondent of the Eastern Daily Press, as part of its Mental Health Watch campaign. Buy a copy of the EDP and support the high quality local investigative journalism which is so important to our campaign. The article isn’t available online but you can buy an E-edition
EDP: Let’s hope lives can be saved Read More »
More excellent investigative reporting from Nicholas Carding of the EDP, showing how people in crisis from Norfolk and Suffolk are being transported across the country due to a chronic lack of beds. We’re deeply concerned that some people in crisis are not getting a hospital bed at all. Let’s not forget that NSFT and North
EDP Front Page Exclusive: Passed from Pillar to Post Read More »
Nicholas Carding of the EDP reports: Calls for better mental health services echoed around the centre of Norwich today as hundreds of people took part in a march to send a clear message to NHS leaders. Campaigners and politicians said action is needed now and called for steps to be taken at both local and
EDP: Marching for better mental health services Read More »
Click on the image below to watch Mark Summer’s excellent report for Mustard TV, Norfolk’s local television channel:
