Address: Drayton High Road, Hellesdon, Norwich, NR6 5BETelephone: 01603421421Website: www.nsft.nhs.uk/
Feedback
232 responses from the local community
Community Mental Health Service
2
Submitted by Anonymous17th February 2017
I have been in and out of services since I was 16. I managed to get lost in the system. My experience with referral wasn't good.The GP passed on my information to the Community Mental Health service and they lost the information. There was supposed to be a follow up with the psychiatrist but nothing ever came through. I hadn't heard anything back from the service for 5 months when I received a letter asking if i still required the service. I have since made the effort to contact them to make sure that I am still on their system. It came across like they were quickly trying to check me off. When I contacted them about it they said they had tried to contact me but I check my phone and post I hadn't received any communication from them and neither did my GP. It is frustrating experience when you need them and its so difficult to access them and you cant rely on the GPs because they don't have the time.
Reply from Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT)
Firstly, we wish to apologise for the delay in responding to your comment which has been due to a change in the personnel responsible for monitoring and responding to comments posted on line.
We are sorry you have had a negative experience of referral to our community service.
While we are experiencing very high demand on our services, this does not excuse lack of timely contact following a referral. We do hope if the reasons for your referral are still present, that you are now in contact with the service. If you are still waiting for contact, you should have received a letter advising about any delay and providing a contact number if you need to speak with someone or your symptoms worsen. If you have not had correspondence, you can check on the status of your referral by contacting 01603 421421 and asking for the Single Point of Access team who will be able to advise. If you have received notification that your referral has been closed, but you are still needing help with mental health issues, we recommend that you first discuss this again with your GP.
You may also want to consider raising this as a complaint so we can investigate what went wrong with your referral. You can do this by email: complaints@nsft.nhs.uk, telephone: 01603 421486, or by writing to: Patient Safety and Complaints, Kingfisher House, Hellesdon Hospital, Drayton High Road, Norwich NR6 5BE.
Mental Health
2
Submitted by Anonymous17th February 2017
Unfortunately there is very little NHS mental health health provision - you are only offered 'group' sessions and this is impossible if you have anxiety/panic issues. The mental health care in Norwich is so poor I have actively been discouraged from using it. If it wasn't for UEA student support there would be almost no support available. This also goes for support for ASD/Asperger's - there are many provisions for children/low functioning autistics but nothing available for high functioning people.
Reply from Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT)
Firstly, we wish to apologise for the delay in responding to your comment which has been due to a change in the personnel responsible for monitoring and responding to comments posted on line.
We are sorry if your contact with our service has not been helpful. From your comment we assume this was with our Wellbeing service. Due to the very high demand on our wellbeing services, along with evidence that group session can be very beneficial for many people, we often do offer group sessions at first. However, if a person does not find group sessions helpful, you should be able to discuss with a wellbeing practitioner what other options are available. We are pleased to hear that you do feel well supported by the UEA’s student support, with whom our youth services in Central Norfolk do have links.
Asperger East Anglia (www.asperger.org.uk) is commissioned to provide support for adults with Asperger Syndrome and can be contacted on 01603 620500. People with ASD can also access our services for treatable mental health problems in the same way as anyone else. However, we can appreciate that, like other areas of health and social care, the demand for services is in excess of the resources available.
Mental health services
2
Submitted by Shawn Lovatt5th December 2016
I believe that 8-10 sessions are inadequate with one person. It seems that they pass people along without proper results.
Reply from Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT)
We are sorry if your contact with our service has not been helpful. Due to the demand on mental health services we are limited in what we can offer. We do recognise this and are looking at ways to help people better cope with mental health problems. There is growing evidence for a recovery focused approach in mental health services, which is more about helping people to build a more meaningful and satisfying life, whether or not there are continuing or recurring symptoms or mental health difficulties. This is different from traditional, 'treat-and-cure’ health service in which recovery usually means being symptom-free. For example, people who are currently or recently active to our services are able to access courses provided by our Recovery College, which are delivered by people with personal experience of goring through and coping with mental health difficulties. More information is available at www.nsft.nhs.uk/Get-involved/Pages/Recovery-College.aspx , or by telephoning 01603 421169.
Central Norfolk Youth Service - Lack of care and no help when desperate
1
Submitted by Anonymous1st December 2016
Our experience of this service over last 3 years has been worse than useless. They have failed to provide even basic help for my daughter. Failing to return calls and turn up to meetings. Care co-ordinator has not provided any of the leadership in my daughter's case. He doesn't liase with other care professionals. Disgusted with this service. My daughter was discharged from an inpatient unit into his care and he has not helped in any way. Failing to return calls and communicate with us.
Reply from Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT)
Firstly, we wish to apologise for the delay in responding to your comment which has been due to a change in the personnel responsible for monitoring and responding to comments posted on line.
We are sorry that you have had a negative experience of your daughter's care with our youth service. We are concerned about the omissions by the care coordinator that you report. Your daughter, or you with her permission, have the option to contact the care coordinator's team leader and discuss your concerns directly with them. You also have the option to raise this as a complaint, which you can do by email: complaints@nsft.nhs.uk, telephone: 01603 421486, or by writing to: Patient Safety and Complaints, Kingfisher House, Hellesdon Hospital, Drayton High Road, Norwich NR6 5BE.
If you do this on your daughter’s behalf, we will require written permission from your daughter to investigate and share the outcome with you. Our complaints team will be able to provide you with a confidentially agreement form for this purpose.
We do hope that you daughter's recover has continued since her inpatient care.
Children's Mental Health
3
Submitted by Anonymous30th November 2016
The remit is higher and there are difficulties with referrals and waiting times. Everyone I've worked with is fantastic but there just isn't enough funding. It's beneficial being able to do joint work and being under the same roof.
A young person who overdosed was discharged with no follow up. The onus is on the young person to seek further help or information and were told if they need help, to talk to their GP.
My son has mental health issues and has received some support from NSFT and Social Services in the past. Getting the right support is proving very difficult as he is an adult and does not have a physical disability he 'falls between the cracks' in terms of support. I am concerned that he will get to crisis point before he gets further support. He wants to get into work but is unable to due to his increasing anxiety.
Reply from Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT)
Self refer to the wellbeing service. I believe they could be your best option.
Poor communication in the discussion of care
2
Submitted by Anonymous1st November 2016
I'm a parent/carer for my son who receives mental health counselling and care but I find the communication between myself, as his carer, and with the staff at the mental health service very poor. They haven't got the grips of the triangle of care.
I had anxiety issues and depression, so I went to mental health services for help. All they offered to me was medication. They didn't offer any counselling. I didn't want to take pills as I've heard what the side effects were and I didn't want to become dependent on them.