A service user of Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) writes: “I am a user of this service for more than fifteen years. In the last four years the service as become unacceptably poor. I have plenty of evidence. Although I agree that services have to be defended in as much as good levels […]
The BBC reports: An NHS mental health service, which was the first in England to be placed in special measures, has recorded its highest number of unexpected deaths. Norfolk & Suffolk Foundation Trust (NSFT) recorded 157 deaths in 2014-15, compared to 88 deaths in 2012-13. Verita, which the trust instructed to carry out the investigation,
UPDATE: 16/6/2016: It is with great regret that we have been forced to censor this article as the NSFT Board is happy to waste NHS money on the expensive lawyers at Bevan Brittan. We, as a campaign group consisting entirely of volunteers, do not have access to NHS funds to fight expensive legal cases and wouldn’t
The ‘independent inquiry’ into unexpected deaths at Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) is being published on Thursday, 26th May 2016 at the NSFT board meeting at Hellesdon Hospital, Norwich. The board meeting starts at 0930. Why not join us? So, should we expect a whitewash? Well, sadly, given our previous experience of being
David Powles of the Eastern Daily Press and Andrew Hirst of the East Anglian Daily Times report: Two consultants involved in a “strategic reorganisation” which saw hundreds of jobs axed at the region’s mental health trust, each received payouts worth more than £200,000. Day five of our five-part series into public sector pay can reveal
Jessica Goldfinch gave an incredibly powerful and moving speech before the minute’s silence outside Castle Mall in Norwich on our March for Mental Health. Many people were moved to tears, some of them the bereaved. Others couldn’t hear Jessica speak as well as they would have liked, given that six hundred people turned up on
Today, another young women has died after Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) ignored her family’s desperate pleas for help. Yet another ‘unexpected death‘ to add to the statistics. Yet another inquest. For how much longer can the NHS be allowed to let down families in East Anglia in their hours of greatest need?
Yet another death: Enough is enough Read More »
Today, members of the Campaign to Save Mental Health Services in Norfolk and Suffolk from throughout East Anglia joined local people from West Norfolk to protest against the closure of one quarter of the remaining acute mental health beds in West Norfolk at the Fermoy Unit in King’s Lynn and to highlight the threat to
Gallery: March for Mental Health, King’s Lynn Read More »
Sophie Biddle of the EDP reports: More than 100 campaigners pounded the pavements from The Walks and through the town centre before finishing outside the Majestic Cinema to hear speeches. The protest was triggered by the Fermoy Centre, an in-patient NHS facility for mental health, facing closure. Beth Anthony, 18 of Dersingham, is youth officer
EDP: Protesters in King’s Lynn fight against mental health service cuts Read More »
Community campaigners, concerned citizens and service users will be taking to the streets of King’s Lynn on Saturday 23rd April to protest at the closure of the Fermoy Unit, the only local in-patient, NHS facility for mental health in the area. Starting at twelve noon at the Bandstand in the Walks, the event will include
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
The membership of the Norwich and District TUC has chosen our campaign for their next fundraising social event. That’s great news. Even better, campaign supporters are invited along for beer, live music from The Red Flags and games at the Angel Gardens, 96 Angel Road, Norwich NR3 3HT from 7 p.m. until 11 p.m. on
The regulators of NHS trusts, Monitor and the NHS Trust Development Authority, have published their Learning from Mistakes League table. The Chief Executive of Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT), Michael Scott, has repeatedly tried to explain unexpected patient deaths nearly tripling by claiming that NSFT is a ‘high reporter’ with an open culture:
Monitor: NSFT placed 223rd in NHS Learning from Mistakes League table Read More »
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 »
Yet again, these results are appalling. Yet again, they are not only bottom quartile, they are bottom quartile of the bottom quartile. Percentage of staff witnessing potentially harmful errors, near misses or incidents in last month – worst of 29 mental health trusts in England – for the third year running Job satisfaction – NSFT
Nic Rigby of the BBC reports: A failing mental health trust has scrapped plans insisting governors do not talk to journalists without consulting it first, in case they say “things they don’t mean”. The Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust proposals said there was a danger some of them could be “trapped” by leading questions from
BBC News: Trust’s plan to avoid ‘media traps’ scrapped Read More »
The BBC reports: An NHS trust caring for mentally ill people in Norfolk and Suffolk is to carry out an independent review of unexplained deaths. Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) has appointed Verita to examine how the deaths are dealt with. The trust had 129 such deaths in 2014-15 – up from 61
BBC News: Investigation of mental health deaths in Norfolk and Suffolk to report in May 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
In another example of first-class investigative journalism, Andrew Hirst of the East Anglian Daily Times reports: Campaigners have welcomed plans for a new mental health unit for children in Suffolk after it emerged concerning numbers of young people from the region had been sent to adult wards – a practice described by one mother as
