EDP: Norfolk and Suffolk mental health service faces being put into special measures for “inadequate” leadership and safety

The region’s under-fire mental health service should be put into special measures, the chief inspector of hospitals said today, after a highly-critical report branded the trust “inadequate”. Regulator the Care Quality Commission (CQC) rated Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust (NSFT) as “inadequate” overall in a damning report today, following an inspection in October last year. […]

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CQC: Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust is Inadequate

We rated Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust as inadequate overall because: We found that there was not a safe, effective or responsive service at this trust and the board needs to take urgent action to address areas of inadequacy. While the board and senior management had a vision with strategic objectives in place staff did not feel fully engaged

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Guardian: NHS mental health care ‘pushed to breaking point by lack of beds’

The lack of acute beds available to mental health patients has left the system at breaking point, the Royal College of Psychiatrists has said. Illustrating the scale of the problem, the college said it understood that on one occasion last year there were no beds available for adults in England. It called for action to

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Mirror: NHS crisis: Teen mental health patients put on ADULT wards in bed shortage

NHS England, a leaked email reveals, have told regional health bosses the shortage of beds is so bad that older teenagers are set to be admitted to adult wards The NHS beds crisis plumbed new depths as hospitals were advised to put teenage mental health patients onto adult wards. NHS England, a leaked email reveals,

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Observer: Beds crisis hits NHS care for mentally ill children

In the email seen by the Observer, which was sent on Friday on the instruction of national officials working for NHS England, the medical director for East Anglia, says: “I have just been asked to inform you all by the national specialist commissioning team of the current national lack of child and adolescent mental health

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Kept in the Dark: NSFT’s Mutualisation Application Part I

1. WHAT IS YOUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE MAIN STRATEGIC CHALLENGES FACING YOUR ORGANISATION(S) AND HOW HAVE YOU ADDRESSED THESE TO DATE? 1. Challenge: Rising referrals, and falling revenues on historic block contracts, causing financial pressures. NSFT has demonstrated strategic leadership though implementing a merger of two previous trusts in 2012, and a full redesign and

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Daily Mail: EXCLUSIVE: NHS more than DOUBLES spending on private beds for mental health patients after slashing hundreds of its own beds – to save money

“In some areas, bed cuts were drastic. One trust alone, Norfolk and Suffolk, axed 74 mental health beds from its stock of 322 in just two years – a cut of almost a quarter.” Local MP Norman Lamb must be so proud of Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) and his legacy as the

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An open letter to NSFT, its Board of Governors and the CCGs: Why the Ashcroft contract should be ongoing

An open letter to NSFT, its Board of Governors and the CCGs Why the Ashcroft contract should be ongoing The Bed Crisis Over the last two years, there has been a serious shortage of acute inpatient provision. The number of patients placed out of area, in expensive private hospitals, has fluctuated constantly from a low

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EDP: Fighting for the Vulnerable 2015: Join our pledge to help those who need us the most

Today, the EDP issues a clarion call to our wonderful community in East Anglia. Let’s join together in 2015 to help those who cannot help themselves. We believe that some of the most vulnerable people in Norfolk and Suffolk are not getting the support they need or deserve and we cannot stand by and watch

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BBC News: Norfolk and Suffolk mental health trust spent £600,000 on out-of-area beds IN ONE MONTH

The BBC reports: Money spent on sending Norfolk and Suffolk mental health patients to other parts of England almost tripled last month to £600,000, new figures show. A spokesman for the Campaign to Save Mental Health Services in Norfolk and Suffolk said: “NSFT and the local clinical commissioning groups need to properly fund both inpatient

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EDP Editorial: This practice is terrible, so why is it still happening?

This practice is terrible, so why is it still happening? Doctors, patients and politicians all agree that sending people with mental health problems hundreds of miles away to get a bed is an awful idea. These patients are travelling to other parts of the country not for specialist treatment but simply because there is no space for them in Norfolk and

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Audio: Crisis in services for children (CAMHS) is the lead interview on BBC Radio Norfolk Breakfast

Campaign members Dr. Irene Lampert, consultant child psychiatrist, and Terry Skyrme, Approved Mental Health Professional (AMHP), are interviewed by Nicky Price of the BBC about the cuts and crisis in mental health services for children and young people (CAMHS). CAMHS services at Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust suffered the largest cuts in England according

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EDP: ‘I feel like I’ve been kidnapped’ – mental health patient who should’ve been released speaks out about ordeal

Almost four months on from the tribunal, his parents – Richard and Maxine, who run the post office in Thorpe End – are doubtful their son could be with them for Christmas. “I feel like I’ve been kidnapped,” Oliver Lang said. “It’s making me depressed.” ‘The mental health system is like a castle’ In Franz

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EDP: Mental-health patients left in cells and secure unit, people deprived of their liberty, NSFT finances are appalling

This is absolutely shocking: A Norwich man with mental-health problems was kept in a police cell for more than 24 hours and then sent to a private hospital 175 miles away for two weeks because there were not any beds for him in East Anglia. This is appalling: A 25-year-old man is being kept in

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EDP: Cash-strapped Norfolk and Suffolk mental health trust spends £307,500 on one redundancy

This is an incredible story of hubris and incompetence which has placed the safety of mental health services at risk due to the subsequent recruitment crisis as well as wasting millions of pounds. However, it is vital that people who depend on mental health services do not pay the price of the NHS bureaucracy’s repeated mistakes.

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Video: BBC Look East interview mental health nurse Emma Corlett about Monitor’s investigation of NSFT

Watch the video below. If you are an Apple user and have trouble viewing the embedded video you can view it directly on Youtube. Sorry, this issue is a sometime side effect of the on-going battle between Google and Apple which is beyond our control.  

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Video: BBC Look East on Monitor’s Investigation into Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust

Watch the video below. If you are an Apple user and have trouble viewing the embedded video you can view it directly on Youtube. Sorry, this issue is a sometime side effect of the on-going battle between Google and Apple which is beyond our control.

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EDP: Latest: Health regulator Monitor “concerned” about N&N and mental health trust

Tom Briscow of the Eastern Daily Press reports: Mrs Mills [of Monitor] said: “We are taking a closer look at NSFT to understand the way the Board works and why the trust is making such a big loss. “The aim of the investigation is to get to the bottom of these issues and to understand

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