Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT)

Feedback

• Suicidal: Emergency Mental Health Assessment

  1

  Submitted by Anonymous 19th March 2018

  Was about to take my life, & decided to call 111 instead - as one last attempt to get meaningful help for long-standing mental health problems. Was told to report myself at A&E within one hour for an emergency assessment & reassured I would get appropriate help & support. All NHS staff (including 111 call centre) were very helpful, courteous & considerate during the 3 hours it took to see someone from mental health services. Unfortunately the mental health professionals were the opposite. I was spoken to as if I were a naughty child trying to get attention from a busy parent and was informed that I didn't meet their strict criteria for any form of help. The reasons they gave were as follows: 1 - I had chosen to dial 111 rather than carry out suicide, so I obviously wasn't that serious 2- Although I had self-harmed for many years, i hadn't done so that evening so was not 'at risk' 3 - I had (unsuccessfully) attempted to access help through the Wellbeing service which showed I was capable of looking out for myself & not 'in crisis' I was then told I was on the wrong medication (apparently they knew better than my GP) & I could wait for a prescription & a some sleeping pills, but they were busy so they had to go. I sat alone & unsupervised in a small room for about another 30 minutes, during which time I managed to cut myself enough to relief some tension before I got my sleeping pills. Fortunately the 5 mile walk home in the bitterly cold wind at 4am was enough to make me too tired to do anything until I got to the Samaritans office - who managed to calm me down sufficiently to put off my suicide for another day (the unpaid volunteer with no psychiatric training managed to do this in a little over 30 minutes) & effectively saved my life for now. I have learned a couple of things from this experience. Firstly, next time I am ready to kill myself, I know not to bother calling the NHS. Secondly, it is surprisingly easy to get potentially dangerous drugs from mental health professionals as so far there does not appear to be any procedure for checking on suicidal patients stockpiling drugs for suicidal use. In my case this is useful information, but for the wider public it should be extremely concerning.

• Reply from Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT)

  Thank you for sharing your experience regarding accessing support from Norfolk & Suffolk Foundation Trust via a hospital A&E. We take all feedback seriously, and it would be helpful to know which hospital A&E you attended at the time. If you would like to discuss this further, please make contact with the Patient's Advice Liaison Service (PALS). PALS provide confidential advice, information and support. Email: pals@nsft.nhs.uk ; phone: 01603 421191 or BT Freephone: 0800 279 7257. The PALS office is open 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday. You can leave a message on our PALS voicemail with the aim to respond to you as soon as possible. Alternatively, you can raise a formal complaint with our Complaints Team, however they would also need more specific information about the incident.They can be contacted by phone: 01603 421486, email: complaints@nsft.nhs.uk or by writing to: Patient Safety and Complaints, Kingfisher House, Hellesdon Hospital, Drayton High Road, Norwich NR6 5BE.

• No support

  3

  Submitted by Anonymous 12th March 2018

  My daughter was seeing a consultant at the child and family centre. They sent a referral through to our GP, who than sat on it for a long time. We have no diagnosis and my daughter is self-harming. We are stuck in nowhere land at the moment with no support.

• Reply from Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT)

  We are sorry to hear that you daughter has been waiting for support from the Child & Family Centre. We suggest you raise this with the team directly, particularly if you have concerns about your daughter’s mental health deteriorating. Alternatively you can contact the Patient’s Advice & Liaison Service (PALS). PALS provide help when you need information or advice about mental health, have concerns or are not sure who to turn to for help. You can contact PALS via Tel: 0800 279 7257 (free phone), Email: pals@nsft.nhs.uk. Messages can be left, and we would attempt to respond to you as soon as possible.

• CAMHS

  4

  Submitted by Anonymous 12th March 2018

  I have a 17 year old son with ASD, I also have an 8 year old with ASD, we were referred to CAMHS by our GP and they agree with the diagnosis and have been supportive. However, his school disagree and it is causing issues with us addressing concerns and accessing the next step of support.

• Reply from Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT)

  Sorry to hear of the difficulties you have experienced with the school and trying to access further support for your children. If you feel there are problems developing with the school, you could raise your concerns with the Head Teacher to see if they can resolve your them. The Gov UK website provides some helpful guidance regarding this: https://www.gov.uk/complain-about-school Also, if you need support liaising with the organisations, it might also be worth either you or your children accessing support from an independent advocate, so that yours and their voices are being heard.

• More awareness needed

  3

  Submitted by Anonymous 12th March 2018

  Mental health awareness and treatments could be made more public.

• Reply from Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT)

  We fully agree that mental health awareness education is important for helping to build community and individual resilience and tackle the stigma that still exists around mental health.

• Mental Health Visitor

  5

  Submitted by Anonymous 19th February 2018

  My son has a mental health visitor come once a week. He suffers from schizophrenia and the support they give is very good. They check he's doing okay and help him with his shopping.

• Reply from Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT)

  Thank you for sharing this positive feedback about your sons support.

• Constant battle

  1

  Submitted by Anonymous 15th January 2018

  No care, no suitable services, no cash or competence is no excuse. Could say more, but they have made it clear that patients are just inconvenience.

• Reply from Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT)

  We are sorry that you feel this way about our services and would like to know more so we can investigate the circumstances. You can do this by contacting our Patient Advice and Liaison Service via Tel: 0800 279 7257 (free phone), Email: pals@nsft.nhs.uk. Messages can be left, and we would attempt to respond to you as soon as possible.

• Released from care too soon

  1

  Submitted by Anonymous 14th December 2017

  A family member of mine has long term mental health conditions and they were released from care without having been fully treated, in my opinion. Their mental health is now starting to deteriorate. I think that nearly all of the staff are brilliant. It's the managers and board of directors that are the problem.

• Reply from Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT)

  Firstly, please accept our apologies for not responding to your feedback sooner, and we are sorry to hear that a member of your family has been unwell . If you have any further concerns going forward about the support provided our Patient’s Advice Liaison Service (PALS) is here to help. PALS provides confidential information and advice about mental health and services and can help with raising queries and concerns with the relevant service. You can contact PALS on the following; Tel: 0800 279 7257 (free phone), Email: pals@nsft.nhs.uk. Messages can be left, and we would attempt to respond to you as soon as possible.

• Marvellous

  5

  Submitted by Anonymous 11th December 2017

  The GP referred my daughter in law to this team straight away, and they were marvellous. They came out to her everyday. We couldn't leave her on her own. A different member of staff came out everyday, for some this might be a problem but for us it actually worked very well.

• Reply from Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT)

  Thank you for telling us about the positive experience of your daughter in law being referred to us. We know that some people do find it difficult seeing different members of the care team and we are looking at ways we might be able to minimise this

• Staff are wonderful, structure is awful

  3

  Submitted by Anonymous 7th December 2017

  The staff are wonderful and will try their best but the structure and process for patients is awful. There's pockets of NHS, voluntary and private organisations all trying to work together to support people with mental health conditions. As a nurse I've seen NHS money paid to private providers for beds, in places that aren't suitable.

• Reply from Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT)

  Thank you for this helpful feedback about our services. It is good hear your views on partnership working with the Trust and other organisations as it can be a very important factor in recovery. We are also introducing more ways to involve people who have had direct experience of our services to help with quality improvements that will have a positive impact on the experience of care.

• Improving over time

  3

  Submitted by Anonymous 29th November 2017

  A family member of mine is receiving care and treatment from NSFT, and it's slowly improving over time. It was initially very bad, he moved from another county where he was receiving mental health care. No information was transferred from the other services, which made it difficult because he had to have another evaluation.

  
  
  Leave a provider response