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Campaigner: Mental health 'deaths crisis' getting worse

BBC Mark Harrison from the Campaign to Save Mental Health Services in Norfolk and SuffolkBBC
Campaigner Mark Harrison says the "deaths crisis" is out of control at the Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust

A campaigner in Norfolk says the "deaths crisis" at the county's mental health trust is getting worse.

Bereaved relatives met the mental health minister, Maria Caulfield, to discuss failings at the Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT).

The trust says it is on a "rapid, and much-needed journey of improvement".

Mark Harrison, from the Campaign to Save Mental Health Services in Norfolk and Suffolk, said: "We judge people by what they do, not what they say."

Campaigners at Westminster protest about improving mental health services in Norfolk and Suffolk
Campaigners met mental health minister Maria Caulfield in Westminster last week

Members of the campaign group met Ms Caulfield and other MPs in Westminster on 12 March and demanded an independent public inquiry into the trust.

It came after a report last summer which found that more than 8,000 mental health patients had died unexpectedly in Norfolk and Suffolk between 2019 and 2022.

At the meeting, it was agreed Ms Caulfield would meet bosses at the NSFT.

The health select committee will also be asked to conduct an inquiry into the trust as part of a broader public inquiry.

'Out of control'

But Mr Harrison said he had little confidence anything would change.

"The deaths crisis is just out of control and it's accelerating," he said.

"We have been doing this for 10 years. Every time somebody promises to do something, it doesn't come to anything."

Alex Dunlop/BBC Clive LewisAlex Dunlop/BBC
Norwich South MP, Clive Lewis, is calling for an independent public inquiry into the NSFT

The meeting last week was arranged by the Conservative Mid Norfolk MP, George Freeman, and the Labour MP for Norwich South, Clive Lewis.

Mr Lewis said: "We've got a mental healthcare system which is the worst in the country.

"There needs to be an independent public inquiry before we do anything else.

"We need to understand what has gone wrong here, what lessons can be learned not just for this trust, but for other trusts around the country."

Martin Barber/BBC Sign outside the Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Trust headquartersMartin Barber/BBC
The mental health trust says it's on a "rapid, and much needed journey of improvement"

In a statement, the NSFT said a review of prevention of future deaths was already under way.

A spokesperson said: "As a trust, we are on a rapid and much-needed journey of improvement which has been strengthened by the welcome arrival of our experienced chief executive officer, Caroline Donovan.

"Working with our partner organisations, service users, families and carers across Norfolk and Suffolk, we will continue to ensure our local communities have safer, kinder and better mental health services they rightly deserve."

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