Mark Shields of the EDP reports: The Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust’s decision follows the decision of the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital (N&N) to opt out of becoming one of nine pathfinder trusts examining mutual ownership. Chief executive Michael Scott said the decision had been taken by the board in light of feedback from […]
Tom Bristow of the EDP reports: Mr Lamb, MP for North Norfolk and care minister, suggested the [Norfolk & Norwich] hospital dropped its interest in becoming a mutual because it was under investigation by regulator Monitor for persistently missing waiting time targets. “It is immensely disappointing,” Mr Lamb said. “I obviously understand that they are
Laura Donnelly of the Daily Telegraph reports: Sir Robert believes that many of the worst failings in the NHS occur when clinical staff become powerless — are left “shrugging their shoulders” rather than challenging poor care. As he made a public call for evidence, he told The Telegraph that he feared too many had been hounded out
When Linda Jones received a call from her distraught husband, one cold day in December 2008, to say that their beloved 17-year-old son, Matthew, had committed suicide in his bedroom, she was inconsolable, as any mother would be. But she was not surprised. The despair the Joneses feel at the state of Britain’s mental-health services
In an email to Unison, leaked to the BBC, the hospital’s head of communications Fiona Devine said: “Our particular interest in the project was to learn from others about their experience of enhanced staff engagement and the potential result in benefits for patients. “Since then, we have received further information about the project… in light
We will be speaking alongside Professor Sue Richards, National Co-Chair of Keep Our NHS Public and retired surgeon Anna Atthow. Please join us. Norfolk Keep our NHS Public Public Meeting 7th Feb @10.30am in the Curve, The Forum, Norwich Who Owns our NHS? Our NHS is steadily being destroyed. Since 2010, £10 billion of contracts have been
A sad lesson in how to get it so very, very wrong So, those who suggested the emperor was parading naked, and not clad in new finery, have been proved right. The very birth of the Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust was accompanied by a chorus of warnings: about jobs; about finance; and – crucially – about care. Critics
EADT Editorial: A sad lesson in how to get it so very, very wrong Read More »
Norman Lamb MP appears on itv NEWS Anglia as a campaigner, a self-proclaimed mental health champion: “It is misguided to think that you can reduce spending in mental health and not expect consequences to that” So, who is the Minister of State at the Department of Health directly responsible for mental health who has overseen
Video: itv NEWS Anglia – Mental Health Trust condemned as inadequate Read More »
The Daily Telegraph reports on the CQC Inspection of Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT). The Telegraph also carries a link to the Aidan ‘I’m no Dirty Den’ Thomas email story which will bring back difficult memories to many readers, especially employees of NSFT and Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust (CPFT). Click on
Daily Telegraph: Special measures threat for Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust Read More »
We were all delighted to meet Andy McNicoll, deservedly Mind Mental Health Journalist of the Year, at our campaign meeting yesterday. Ethical investigative journalism is a critical component in our campaign and Andy McNicoll’s work with the BBC’s Michael Buchanan has been of the highest quality. In November 2013 a campaign led by frontline staff
This is shocking. How could Norman Lamb even consider handing ownership of mental health services in Norfolk and Suffolk to these people? Leadership, morale and staff engagement The board had some significant changes over the past year. There was a relatively new chair who had been in post just over a year. The chief executive was
CQC Report: Shocking leadership, morale and staff engagement at NSFT Read More »
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
CQC: Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust is Inadequate Read More »
3. WHAT IS YOUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE LEVELS OF STAFF ENGAGEMENT IN YOUR ORGANISATION(S) AND THE MAIN CHALLENGES YOU CURRENTLY FACE TO IMPROVING THIS? Our staff engagement data is currently poor; NSFT scored very poorly in the 2013 NHS Staff survey, being in the bottom 20% of participants on many measures. Our overall staff engagement
Kept in the Dark: NSFT’s Mutualisation Application Part III Read More »
More coverage of the Skype proposal from NSFT. Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust’s innovative proposals have now even made it into the computer industry trade press. Click on the image below to read the full article:
Computer Weekly: Health trust proposed offshoring mental care through Skype Read More »
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
Guardian: NHS mental health care ‘pushed to breaking point by lack of beds’ Read More »
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,
Mirror: NHS crisis: Teen mental health patients put on ADULT wards in bed shortage Read More »
2. WHAT DO YOU SEE AS THE MAIN BENEFITS OF THE MUTUAL MODEL IN ADDRESSING THE STRATEGIC CHALLENGES IDENTIFIED AT (1) ABOVE AND ON IMPROVING SERVICES TO PATIENTS? 1. Benefit: Employee engagement and morale. NAViGO (a mental health services mutual) reduced staff absence from 6.8% to <3% in the two years after mutualising, and has
Kept in the Dark: NSFT’s Mutualisation Application Part II Read More »
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
Observer: Beds crisis hits NHS care for mentally ill children Read More »
Care minister Norman Lamb denied yesterday that mutuals were a step to privatisation, after campaigners claimed the NSFT could leave the NHS. But a spokesman for the Campaign to Save Mental Health Services in Norfolk and Suffolk, which put in the Freedom of Information request, said: “Staff are up in arms about this. It is
EDP: A half-way house to privatisation? Read More »
Tom Bristow of the EDP reports: But in a move which has done nothing for staff morale the trust suggested employing workers in low wage countries to talk to mental health patients over Skype, in its application to secure government funding to research the project. The NSFT’s full application for government money to explore becoming
EDP: Move to improve staff morale causes an upset Read More »
