Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust

Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) is a large mental health trust and an NHS Foundation Trust. It runs services in Norfolk and Suffolk, England, chiefly at Hellesdon Hospital, Norvic and Juilan Hospital in Norwich, Northgate in Great Yarmouth, and Carlton Court in Lowestoft

Type of Trust
NHS hospital trust
Trust Details
Last annual budget
Employees 4500
Chair Marie Gabriel
Chief Executive Jonathan Warren
Links
Website Norfolk and Suffolk NHS FT
Care Quality Commission reports
Monitor Monitor

It was formed by a merger of Norfolk and Waveney Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust with Suffolk Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust on 1 January 2012.[1]

Antek Lejk, chief officer of South Norfolk and North Norfolk clinical commissioning groups and executive lead for the Sustainability and transformation plan was appointed chief executive in March 2018.[2]

Performance

In November 2013 a campaign to save mental health services in Norfolk and Suffolk alleged that inpatient and community services are in "acute crisis" because of cutbacks. The staff group claimed they were finding it "almost impossible to function in a safe and legal manner".[3] "hundreds of people packed into a room at the Vauxhall Centre in Norwich" on 25 November 2013 for the first meeting of the Campaign to Save Mental Health Services in Norfolk and Suffolk at which it was alleged that deaths of service users were increasing.[4]

In October 2014 Norfolk County Council ended the formal agreement with the trust established in 2008 after losing confidence in its capacity to guarantee outcomes for social care service users. About 100 social care staff and the management of the service will transfer to the Council. [5]

In February 2015 the Trust was put into special measures after the Care Quality Commission reported the trust was "not a safe... service".[6] It was subsequently partnered by Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust.[7] It came out of special measures in October 2016 but was back in again in October 2017 after a further inspection found it had "not maintained standards".[8]

There is concerns that there are too few mental health beds in Suffolk. The Norfolk and Suffolk NHS foundation trust closed 35 beds, 8 permanently, in the months up to August 2018. This was because of staff shortages, and most closures were in Suffolk.[9]

The Care Quality Commission has rated Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust inadequate three times up to November 2018 and patients self harmed or attempt suicide while waiting for care. There are unsafe acute wards and there is serious understaffing. According to the Care Quality Commission bosses repeatedly did not protect patients. Inspectors found patients in segregation unsupervised, urgent referrals unsafely downgraded, unfilled shifts causing 139 incidents over six months. Dr Paul Lelliott of the Care Quality Commission said, "Managers have not ensured that when things go wrong, they learn and share lessons to reduce the likelihood of the same thing happening again." Lelliot added that matters raised in 2014 still needed to be fully addressed, he said, "The trust leadership team has not taken action at the pace required to bring about sustained improvement and to resolve failings in safety." There are calls for the trust to be put into special administration meaning part of all the trust would be taken over, many mental health experts and campaigners believe that is the only way to make the trust safe. Patients with significant needs did not always get a service.[10][11]

Development

The trust was one of the beneficiaries of Boris Johnson's announcement of capital funding for the NHS in August 2019, with an allocation of £40 million for four new hospital wards providing 80 beds.[12]

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See also

References
  1. "Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust Merger Case Study". ELFS Shared Services. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
  2. "Top CCG lead named as chief executive of inadequate trust". Health Service Journal. 12 March 2018. Retrieved 11 May 2018.
  3. "'We are no longer prepared to remain silent': frontline staff blow whistle on impact of mental health cuts". Community Care. 7 November 2013. Retrieved 10 November 2013.
  4. "Hundreds attend first mental health campaign meeting in Norwich". EDP24. 25 November 2013. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
  5. "Norfolk terminates £3.6m agreement with mental health trust". Local Government Chronicle. 14 October 2014. Retrieved 7 November 2014.
  6. "Norfolk and Suffolk health trust in special measures". BBC News. 19 February 2015. Retrieved 22 February 2015.
  7. "Nottinghamshire Healthcare to 'buddy' special measures trust". Health Service Journal. 30 April 2015. Retrieved 13 June 2015.
  8. "Trust re-enters special measures after less than a year". Health Service Journal. 13 October 2017. Retrieved 23 December 2017.
  9. Eating disorder patients sent miles from home as Suffolk centre lies empty The Guardian
  10. Ministers urged to act over Norfolk and Suffolk mental health trust The Guardian
  11. Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust remains 'inadequate' BBC
  12. "Revealed: The 20 capital projects promised by the PM". Health Service Journal. 5 August 2019. Retrieved 9 September 2019.
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