EADT: Suffolk patient moved 150 miles to Derbyshire mental health unit following Lark Ward closure

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 […]

EADT: Suffolk patient moved 150 miles to Derbyshire mental health unit following Lark Ward closure Read More »

Healthwatch Suffolk condemns service user and carer engagement at Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT)

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

Healthwatch Suffolk condemns service user and carer engagement at Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) Read More »

Audio: BBC Radio Norfolk: Matthew Gudgin interviews NSFT interim CEO Julie Cave and a campaigner about the closure of yet another 36 beds

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,

Audio: BBC Radio Norfolk: Matthew Gudgin interviews NSFT interim CEO Julie Cave and a campaigner about the closure of yet another 36 beds Read More »

BBC News: Norfolk and Suffolk mental health beds closures ‘shocking’

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 »

EADT: ‘This is a humanitarian disaster’ – Mental health trust closes 36 beds

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 »

EDP: Consultant psychiatrist says Norwich mother should have been admitted to hospital before her death

Geraldine Scott of the Eastern Daily Press reports: A consultant psychiatrist said the set up of mental health services across the country was “terrible” at an inquest into the death of a Norwich mother. Dr Robert Higgo, an expert clinical psychiatrist, gave evidence at Norfolk Coroner’s Court in Norwich this morning, into the death of

EDP: Consultant psychiatrist says Norwich mother should have been admitted to hospital before her death Read More »

Exclusive: First NSFT’s governors knew of the involvement of Antek Lejk’s Cornwall PCT in the out-of-hours deaths scandal was when they read about it in the EDP

We have been told that the governors of Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) were placed under what we consider to be inappropriate pressure to approve the appointment of Antek Lejk as its Chief Executive. The ballot was not secret. Even the usually compliant governors of NSFT had deep reservations after Mr Lejk’s poor

Exclusive: First NSFT’s governors knew of the involvement of Antek Lejk’s Cornwall PCT in the out-of-hours deaths scandal was when they read about it in the EDP Read More »

Jobs for the Boys: NSFT facing possible legal action over the ‘appointment’ of Antek Lejk as Chief Executive

Mr. Page, Please send us: a) the NSFT current Recruitment and Selection Policy as this is not available on the NSFT website; b) the current NSFT Equality Policy as the version published on the NSFT website was last revised ten years ago. Please send these documents, which should be readily available and are not, promptly.

Jobs for the Boys: NSFT facing possible legal action over the ‘appointment’ of Antek Lejk as Chief Executive Read More »

EDP: New mental health boss appointment branded ‘disastrous’ by campaigners

Geraldine Scott of the Eastern Daily Press reports: The appointment of a new mental health boss has been branded “disastrous” by campaigners due to the new chief’s background in NHS funding. That means cuts. The STP’s own figures show that forty per cent of the ‘savings’ are due to funding not keeping up with inflation.

EDP: New mental health boss appointment branded ‘disastrous’ by campaigners Read More »

NHS Staff Survey 2017 – Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) is appalling – yet again

Yet again, the NHS Staff Survey results are appalling. Even worse than 2016. The extremely expensive Comms Department at Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) will try to spin these results, just as it did with the most recent CQC inspection which found that mental health services were unsafe for an unprecedented second time; that NSFT

NHS Staff Survey 2017 – Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) is appalling – yet again Read More »

NOW RESCHEDULED: Protest: Against Greed, Mental Health Cuts and NHS Privatisation: ‘No to cuts, No to Branson, No to Lejk’: 1130-1200 Tuesday 1st May 2018: Carrow Road, Norwich NR1 1JE

The NHS bureaucracy have now rearranged their post cuts, pre privatisation jamboree ‘Breaking the Mould’. We will be there to protest against mental health cuts, NHS privatisation and the imposition of CCG hatchet man Antek Lejk as the Chief Executive of Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) despite the objections of service users and

NOW RESCHEDULED: Protest: Against Greed, Mental Health Cuts and NHS Privatisation: ‘No to cuts, No to Branson, No to Lejk’: 1130-1200 Tuesday 1st May 2018: Carrow Road, Norwich NR1 1JE Read More »

EDP Exclusive: Richard Branson’s controversial private health company Virgin Care could take over children’s mental health care in Norfolk

Geraldine Scott of the Eastern Daily Press reports: Children’s mental health services in Norfolk could be taken over by Sir Richard Branson’s controversial company Virgin Care, it can be revealed. The private company, which provides more than £1bn-worth of NHS contracts across the country, is believed to be eyeing a move into Norfolk – prompting

EDP Exclusive: Richard Branson’s controversial private health company Virgin Care could take over children’s mental health care in Norfolk Read More »

EDP: Tranquilisation changes came too little too late for Norwich man, says sister

Geraldine Scott of the Eastern Daily Press reports: “The sister of a mentally ill man who died after being tranquillised in hospital has slammed the region’s mental health trust for not addressing problems with the practice sooner. And a inquest into his death found failings in the care he received from Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation

EDP: Tranquilisation changes came too little too late for Norwich man, says sister Read More »

Beds not Tea: Cuts Café Consultation: Last chance to respond

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 »

EDP: Ex-staff members speak out over ‘rotten foundations’ of mental health trust

Geraldine Scott of the Eastern Daily Press reports: Healthcare professionals who used to work at the region’s mental health trust have slammed “rotten foundations” stemming from a radical redesign six years ago. Former employees have spoken of their disappointment at the latest inspection report into Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) which plunged the

EDP: Ex-staff members speak out over ‘rotten foundations’ of mental health trust Read More »

EDP Data shows mental health trust has cut doctors and nurses – but chief disputes the figures

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

EDP Data shows mental health trust has cut doctors and nurses – but chief disputes the figures Read More »

Campaign statement on NHS Digital payroll data showing 52.7 increase in managers as more than twenty per cent of doctor and qualified nurses cut at NSFT over past five years

A spokesperson for the Campaign to Save Mental Health Services in Norfolk and Suffolk said: “Since 2013, we have repeatedly warned about the increasing number of managers employed at NSFT as mental health services have been savagely cut and the number of unexpected deaths has doubled. But the NHS payroll information is worse than we

Campaign statement on NHS Digital payroll data showing 52.7 increase in managers as more than twenty per cent of doctor and qualified nurses cut at NSFT over past five years Read More »

EDP: OPINION: Coroners are too quick to shy away from saying a death was a suicide – it is time for a change

Geraldine Scott of the Eastern Daily Press writes: Across Europe, one person takes their own life every two hours. And in Norfolk we have significantly higher rates of suicide than other parts of the UK. The number of suicides in Norfolk is appalling: The age-adjusted three-year-rolling suicide rate, as published by the Office for National

EDP: OPINION: Coroners are too quick to shy away from saying a death was a suicide – it is time for a change Read More »

Scroll to Top