Norfolk and Suffolk's failing mental health trust slammed again by CQC inspectors

A failing mental health trust has once again been slammed by the health watchdog, which has rated it inadequate and served it with a "warning notice" to improve.

Inspectors from the Care Quality Commission found the services provided by the Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) were not safe, effective or well-led.

They said staffing levels were often unsafe, waiting lists were long and not managed properly and patient records were inaccurate.

The CQC’s report said that 115 “unexpected or potentially avoidable deaths” were reported between September 1 2019 and September 30 2021.

Inspectors looked at eight core services in November and December last year.

The situation they found was so serious they considered urgent enforcement action to keep people safe. They were only dissuaded from taking action when the trust closed three wards to admissions.

Craig Howarth, CQC head of inspection for mental health and community services, said: "A significant factor behind the trust’s shortcomings was its lack of enough staff to meet patient need, a problem many mental health trusts are encountering.

"The trust needs to ensure its leaders have effective processes to consistently monitor teams, ensure compliance with training targets, understand issues affecting patient care and do more to support staff on the frontline.

"However, we found staff were more engaged, compared to our previous inspection, driven by a vision of what the trust wanted to achieve for its patients."

The report found that, in the two years before the pandemic, on average 49 people per month died within six months of contact with the trust.

Inspectors have served the trust with a "warning notice so its leaders are clear about what must be done to improve patient care and safety".

Mr Howarth said: "If our next inspection finds insufficient improvement, we will take further enforcement action to protect people from the risk of avoidable harm and hold the trust’s leaders to account.”

Campaigners push for inquiry over 'too many deaths'

The Campaign to Save Mental Health Services in Norfolk and Suffolk has welcomed the decision by the CQC to give NSFT an overall quality rating of inadequate.

But campaigners have called for an independent inquiry into the number of unexpected deaths at the trust, and how they have been allowed to remain in special measures for so long while continuing to fail.

Campaign spokesperson Mark Harrison said: "Too many people have died while NSFT have been in special measures. Too many people are desperate for help for themselves or a loved one. 

"People in mental distress and exhausted carers have been robbed of hope. "This cannot be allowed to continue... We need a complete change of culture and the proposed changes need to be co-produced with patients, service users, staff and carers."

Trust 'determined' to improve services

NSFT chief executive Stuart Richardson said: “The people of Norfolk and Suffolk deserve good quality mental health services and we are committed to achieving this.

"People have worked tirelessly to keep services open during the pandemic and I want to thank all my colleagues for their hard work.

“We recognise that we have not made the expected progress in some key areas, and I am deeply sorry for this and the impact this will have had on people who need support with their mental health.  

"We have already taken action that will help us improve, including increasing support and training for our staff, redoubling our efforts to recruit more nurses and doctors, and bringing services closer to people’s homes through our community transformation projects.”