Complaint letter: “Don’t campaign to save… campaign for a radically different new service… with entirely new management”

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 […]

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BBC News: Norfolk & Suffolk trust records its highest number of unexpected mental health deaths

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,

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Kept in the Dark: Should we expect the ‘independent inquiry’ into unexpected deaths at NSFT to be a whitewash?

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

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EDP: Revealed: The six figure payouts for staff leaving the Norfolk and Suffolk mental health trust

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

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Sometimes ‘the noise’ is just too much: Speech for the minute’s silence outside Castle Mall on March for Mental Health

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

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Yet another death: Enough is enough

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?

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itv NEWS Anglia: Are mental health services in the East improving?

Victoria Lampard of itv NEWS Anglia reports: Sophie Liddament’s friend in Norfolk was eventually admitted to hospital for treatment but she says it took five suicide attempts in one week to get her there. “The last one left her fighting for her life. I was like I can’t do this anymore. You’re just going to go

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NHS Staff Survey 2015 – Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) is appalling – yet again

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

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BBC News: Trust’s plan to avoid ‘media traps’ scrapped

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

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BBC News: Investigation of mental health deaths in Norfolk and Suffolk to report in May

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

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EADT: Will new children’s mental health unit in Suffolk solve ‘deeply troubling’ problem of young people in adult wards?

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

EADT: Will new children’s mental health unit in Suffolk solve ‘deeply troubling’ problem of young people in adult wards? Read More »

BBC News: Mental health deaths in Norfolk and Suffolk prompts investigation

BBC News reports: An NHS mental health trust has announced it is commissioning an investigation into the rising number of unexpected deaths of patients. The Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust had 129 such deaths (2014-15) – up from 61 (2012-13) and higher than other mental health trusts in the UK. Michael Scott, chief executive

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EDP: Let’s hope lives can be saved

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

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EDP: Norfolk & Suffolk mental health trust launches ‘desperately needed’ probe into number of patient deaths

Tom Bristow of the EDP reports: An independent inquiry into the rise of unexpected deaths at the region’s mental health trust will be carried out after it emerged figures for Norfolk and Suffolk were the highest in the country. The announcement came on the same day as we revealed there were a total of 35

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Audio: BBC Radio Norfolk: Matthew Gudgin interviews campaigner, Norman Lamb and Michael Scott about the shocking increase in unexpected deaths at NSFT

Matthew Gudgin of the BBC interviews a spokesperson for our campaign, former mental health minister Norman Lamb and the Chief Executive of Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT), Michael Scott. It is brilliant that both the BBC and the EDP are giving mental health the attention it deserves. Now NHS England, local health commissioners

Audio: BBC Radio Norfolk: Matthew Gudgin interviews campaigner, Norman Lamb and Michael Scott about the shocking increase in unexpected deaths at NSFT Read More »

EDP: “We are not surprised” – campaigners say as data shows highest number of unexpected deaths in Norfolk and Suffolk trust

The Eastern Daily Press reports: The boss of Norfolk and Suffolk’s mental health trust has insisted the service is safe after “deeply distressing” data showing the highest number of “unexpected deaths” in the country, Michael Scott, chief executive of Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Trust, said it would be a tragedy if people were being scared

EDP: “We are not surprised” – campaigners say as data shows highest number of unexpected deaths in Norfolk and Suffolk trust Read More »

EDP Front Page Exclusive: Passed from Pillar to Post

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

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EADT: Campaigner seeks answers after his mentally ill brother died alone in filthy Ipswich flat

Andrew Hirst of the East Anglian Daily Times reports: More than a year after Steve Martin learned his mentally ill brother had died alone and amid filth and squalor, his quest for answers goes on. “A really good bloke, who’d do anything for a mate.” That’s how Steve Martin would like to remember his older

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