Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT)
Feedback
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Told I could re-refer but not been able to
18th March 2022I was under mental health services for many years. They discharged me because they thought I had all the tools I needed to self-manage. I said I wasn't ready to be discharged but they said I could be re-referred if I needed to be. I mean how ready can someone be to be discharged after being in a service for 10 years?! It was also not a good time to discharge me with it being the peak of the COVID pandemic and I had a number of other things going on in my life. Shortly after being discharged I fell into a bad place and this has been ongoing for the last year. I went to the doctors and ask to be re-referred. My doctors were good and made the referral for me. I just felt like I needed help before it got worse. I got put onto the waiting list for Northgate. Meanwhile my mental health and eating disorder is getting worse. My physical health is deteriorating. I had my assessment in September 2021 and was given a referral to wellbeing who got back to me quickly. They assessed that I needed to be seen quickly and referred me on. I was sent round multiple places. I'm being told I'm too underweight for support from one place but not underweight enough for the other. Things are getting worse with my eating disorder in the meantime. It's just difficult for me because when I was discharged they told me I could be re-referred. My GP has tried to help but when I went initially they didn't have anyone with specialist knowledge of mental health in their team so they just took my physical observations again. They do have a mental health practitioner now, who I've seen but they weren't much help for me. It's just taken constant prompting. Constantly chasing people to get some kind of support. When I'm saying I want help, it's so frustrating. Once I've prompted the doctors they have been good to find things to help me while I wait for more support.
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Ineffective service
3rd March 2022My daughter has been with this service for over 5 years. In that time I've lost count of how many keyworkers she has had as they come and go. I think she has spent more time waiting in-between workers than actually seeing anyone. After a lot of banging my fist on the table we finally got an Autism assessment and diagnosis because I asked for her to be referred elsewhere. This diagnosis explains why she has struggled to engage in some talking therapies and the Consultant told me that he will go back to the team and discuss what therapies etc are now needed for her MH and that previous non-engagement shouldn't continue to be held against her!! We asked for a change of keyworker in July 2021 & as of March 2022 we are still waiting. My Daughter has complex MH needs and was on CPA so that a continuous care plan should be updated and Keyworkers, Therapists above a certain level should be assigned. At one stage she was removed from this system without notice because they could only assign an OT to her. The whole case of her treatment went to complaints after asking Youth Team for information in accordance with their own CPA Policies as to why this was done and who authorise it and who countersigned it. The complaint procedure took up a lot of time and caused a lot of additional stress and eventually told us nothing. Just that no action was being taken! She is now being referred back by another service for therapy for OCD, I will be looking for alternative services and probably paying money I can ill afford just so that we don't lose momentum in her current recovery stage. I am one exhausted Mum, untrained and unpaid carer trying to access a service that we have little faith left in and under whos carer so far my daughter is in a worse state than when first referred years ago. We are currently only under the consistent care of our GP.
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I don't get any support
24th February 2022I have a diagnosis of Bipolar and I'm on the right medication but I don't have anyone to see or review my mental health. Not even for 5 minutes once a year. I have times when I struggle and I get no support. When I moved down to Norfolk they wouldn't see me despite my condition. I was told by someone over the phone at Chatterton House, who wasn't a psych nurse just an Occupational Therapist, that because I didn't have substance abuse issues I couldn't be seen. When I lived elsewhere I used to see a psychiatrist every 6 months for 10 minutes. I didn't always need anything but it meant I was in the loop if I ever felt bad and needed the support.
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Dedicated MH nurse following birth of my baby
18th February 2022I could not have asked for a more supportive MH nurse following the birth of my baby. She got to know me and my family and understood how best to support me towards getting better. Even during COVID, some of our meetings were face to face and some via telephone but I always felt the same level of care from my MH nurse. Thank you to the Perinatal Community Mental Health Services.
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Abused and failure by NSFT
16th September 2021During a Mental Health Act Assessment a doctor tried to gain access to my home and to the assessment . The AMPH had already informed him not to attend, due to a previous negative experience with him. He ignored and with pre mediated action came to my property, during the assessment, and then spent 20mins (CCTV) arguing, intimidating and bullying the AMPH to gain access to me. The AMPH refused him entry, informed him to leave, as did I, he refused, he disclosed personal information on my doorstep about me. His actions have destroyed me, his actions caused and is causing self harm, mental distress, scared, worthless unable to access care. He has destroyed me. Members of his own peer group told him to leave, he refused. The complaint process has been an absolute disgrace, 4 months in and still no-one assigned to investigate, missed deadlines, missed extended deadline, no responses to my question,. The Chief Nurse contacted me and said she wanted to help, I was so grateful, and that was the first and last time I spoke with her, nothing. The Clinical Advisor is a disgrace, refuses to answer any questions, reply to emails and ironically he only replied, a week after Norfolk CountyCouncil Adult Services spoke with him. Yet still didn’t answer any questions, he even stated he had CC the Chief Nurse, I replied to both , no answer from either of them, that was over 4 weeks ago. The CEO replied to my tweet saying he would look into it, I replied that I couldn’t DM him, could he reply to me,.. no answer . I sent recorded letters, no answer. Raised it at every crisis meeting, support worker emailed clinical advisor and chief nurse, no answer. I have asked and begged for safeguards to be put into place to protect me from him and that I am not to be taken to N’gate pending the investigation and not one of the Senior Management Team not one manager has ever done that. Therefore, I am not safe to engage. I have no where to turn because the safeguards haven’t been put into place which means I self harm, flashbacks, impulses to die uncontrollable . How hard is it for a mental health trust to put in reasonable safeguards? The incident cannot be denied, it happened in front of the AMPH, another Consultant Psychiatrist and and another panel member. There are some very good staff but there are many toxic staff who have created and institutionalised toxic culture. The NSFT is not fit for purpose. They have done nothing to protect me from this doctor, his actions and the lack action of the NSFT has made me feel worthless , harassed and distressed.
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The worst mental health service
22nd July 20212 CPNs that didn't turn up for appointments. Both lied about me being on a waiting list for an official diagnosis and therapy. Then I get a care coordinator who twists things, gives bad advice, is incompetent, gives links to Facebook groups instead of signposting to proper help, kept trying to send me to group therapy when she knows that it triggers cult trauma, doesn't follow up on things she has promised to, meaning I have to prompt her. Basically, she has been useless and I am no further ahead than I was 6 years ago. I am in the process of writing an official complaint to Hellesdon but, as someone who is daily suicidal and anxious, that's quite a feat with no support. My latest care coordinator started gaslighting me. He even did it in front of my partner, who called him out on it. This person should not be allowed to work within the NHS. He has lied. He turned up at my house uninvited and triggered me. When I saw him at my gate I told him to go away, and I did this calmly. He then back chatted me as he walked away, and gaslighted me, causing me to become triggered and shaken, which then kicked in my fight mode. He then denied gaslighting me! Even though I had a witness, and a voice mail to prove otherwise. He pushed and pushed until I snapped and then no doubt went back to report that I was the problem. The NHS are absolutely negligent and the Norfolk and Suffolk Mental Health Trust should be completely overhauled. I would rather take my chances looking after myself than to ever have their involvement in my mental health care again. This is the tip of the iceberg... 0/5 stars but the minimum allowed here is 1, for some reason.
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Reply from Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT)
Thank you for your feedback and I am sorry that you have had a negative experience with our Trust. I would encourage you to raise a formal complaint so that we may undertake an investigation into the issues you have raised. I fully appreciate how difficult it can be to put your complaint in writing; there is an independent advocacy service available to you free of charge through an organisation called POhWER. You can contact them via telephone on 0300 456 2370, via email at pohwer@pohwer.net or by completing a referral form on their website, https://www.pohwer.net/norfolk. If you would like to contact our Trust\'s Customer Service Team to discuss your complaint you can call us on 01603 421 486 or email us at customer.service@nsft.nhs.uk and we will be happy to help in any way we can. -
Liaison & Diversion service is first rate
8th June 2021My friend was who has enduring mental health issues was arrested and was at Wymondham Police Investigation Centre, the L&D service assessed him as vulnerable and ensured that he was supported and an appropriate adult was present. As his case progressed through the courts he was met by a L&D officer who advocated to the court his vulnerability and then wrote a statement explaining his case history in relation to his mental health issues, and liaised with the Probabtion service. On the day the L&D officer spoke to us giving us support and explaining what was going on, when the magistrates couldnt find the L&D officer's statement, they attend the court. The role of L&D was so important to support a mentally vulnerable adult and help prevent custody being considered. Instead probation was recommended which was a much better outcome. They do an incredible job with a huge annual caseload and covering both the Norwich magistrates and Crown courts, and supporting cases in other courts in the region. There needs to be a more investment in this service, at a persons hour of greatest need who is mentally vulnerable there needs to be a small team of people handling the case work. https://www.nsft.nhs.uk/service-details/service/liaison-and-diversion-service-ld-68/
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Adult ADHD Services
20th November 2020The waiting list for the Adult ADHD service is horrendous and getting worse. I know Covid will impact things but an 18+ month waiting list is so detrimental to people who desperately need assessment and support - isn't the NHS waiting time supposed to be 18 weeks, not 18 months? It feels like this goal has been entirely abandoned by autism and ADHD services for adults and children. My Dr made a referral to the Adult ADHD services 6 months ago and I hadn't heard anything from them - when I phoned them up they first said I wasn't on their system, then managed to find my information and said they had received the referral but I hadn't been added to their waiting list, nearly 6 months later. I was told the waiting list would be at least 18 months long and getting longer due to Covid delaying assessments. If I hadn't phoned up, would I ever have even been added to their waiting list for assessment? I think Healthwatch Norfolk need to look into this further and see the impact this is having on people on the waiting list.
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Funding the key issue
27th August 2020Funding for mental health should be better, it was cut about 10 years ago and access to MH was dependent on how ill you were, it seems a waste of money. The quality of mental health care was disappointing as they had to go for the cheapest option. Seeing a psychiatrist was impossible despite an emergency referral which took 2 weeks. The person I know who got support had inpatient care which was less than therapeutic. When discharged it's fine if they've got family to help them but what if not? There was no aftercare either in hospital or post-discharge. I recognise there's not enough trained medical staff, but funding is the key issue
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Long waiting list
23rd March 2020My son tried to access the child and adolescent mental health service over 3 months ago. He has only just been placed on a waiting list and the wait is expected to be a long one. He hasn't been able to access anything at all in the meantime and this is just unacceptable.
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