1,000 DEATHS
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MORE than 1,000 patients died needlessly because of serious failings at Britain’s worst NHS Trust, it is claimed today.
The grim toll of “unexpected” deaths was allegedly recorded at the crisis-hit Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust.
But campaigners fear the true figure is even higher.
Shocking failings laid bare by the Sunday Mirror reveal catastrophic and systematic shortcomings in the care of mental health patients.
NSFT has been in and out of special measures for seven years and rated “inadequate” four times since 2015 – the worst record in the UK.
Campaigners claim preventable deaths have soared since mental health and learning disability care services in Norfolk and Suffolk merged in 2012, with a brief to save £40million.
There have been seven chief executives in that time.
NSFT disputes claims of 1,000-plus cases but refused to hand over its data on unexpected deaths. Campaigners want the NSFT axed, with new mental health trusts for the two counties.
Everything has failed... we must act urgently to stop more loss of life CLIVE LEWIS LABOUR MP ON NHS CATASTROPHE
AVOIDABLE
Mark Harrison, of the Campaign to Save Mental Health Services, said: “We are convinced there have been at least 1,000 avoidable deaths – maybe higher.
“How many times do you give this Trust a chance to protect patients and stop lives being lost?”
The Sunday Mirror can reveal: ■ 2,536 mental health patients died between 2017 and 2021.
■ Campaigners claim Trust documents reveal 359 unexpected deaths from 2012-15, 184 in 201617, 137 in 2018-19 and 320 from 2020 to 2022.
■ The Care Quality Commission reported 115 “unexpected or potentially avoidable deaths” between late 2019 and 2021 – thought to be within the figures above.
■ 15 people were feared to have taken their own lives within three months of contact with the Trust. ■ Coroners have issued 36 “prevention of future deaths” reports involving the Trust since 2012.
The reports call for action to avoid further tragedies. Four have been issued this year, including one relating to a woman who took her life after there was no bed available, and another involving a man who used a plastic bag to end his life.
Norwich South Labour MP Clive Lewis has told the House of Commons that failings, driven by cuts and poor leadership, “led to deaths, suffering and tragedy for over a decade”.
He told the Mirror: “We need to act urgently to stop more lives being lost. Everything else that has been tried has failed. We
need a public inquiry to get to
the bottom of it.” The scandal is being likened to the crisis in MidStaffordshire, where up to 1,200 patients died in four years as a result of poor NHS trust care.
An unexpected death is classed as one where the cause cannot be anticipated, including suicide, an accident or natural causes.
It includes anyone who has been treated by the Trust in the six months before their death.
NSFT, which has a £305million budget and employs 4,227, was last month threatened with enforcement action by the CQC over its latest shambolic inspection.
It laid bare a cover-up culture and said bosses failed to ensure
workers learn from incidents “to protect patients and staff ”.
It revealed staffing levels were often unsafe, long waiting lists were not managed properly, and patient records were inaccurate.
After its latest inspection, longsuffering families tied symbolic hearts to railings outside the NSFT headquarters in Norwich, each representing a life lost to failings.
Nick Fulcher, whose mum-in-law died in a hospital van on the hard shoulder of the M11, said: “They make promises to put things right and never do. They say they learn lessons and are sorry.
“It’s the same old story after every death. There needs to be an
inquiry”. Whistleblowing nurse Emma Corlett said bosses at the NSFT were warned nearly a decade ago that lives were being lost.
Ms Corlett, 46, who left in 2016, said: “Cuts were the trigger for services falling apart. We lost 80 experienced community mental health nurses and social workers in central Norfolk alone.
WARNED
“The assertive outreach team was visiting patients two or three times a week, keeping them well and keeping them out of hospital.
“Instead of seeing a patient several times a week they were only seen a couple of times a month.
How many chances do you give this Trust to protect its patients? MARK HARRISON MENTAL HEALTH CAMPAIGNER
Without the previous level of care patients started to deteriorate and became a risk to themselves.”
Sheila Preston, 77, was a governor of the Trust when her son Leo Hillel Jacobs, 39, died in 2016 from a suspected accidental overdose. She quit her role in 2019 after becoming critical of the Trust’s leadership.
She said: “They have completely failed in their responsibility to the public. There doesn’t seem to be any accountability when things have been going really wrong. I think things have got worse in all respects. God knows how many more lives are going to be lost.”
Among those failed was Matty Arkle, 37, who was given an hour of unescorted leave from a unit in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, in April 2017, against his family’s wishes. He killed himself. The Trust was criticised at his inquest for a delay in noticing Matty had gone missing.
Another patient, Joshua Sahota, took his life with a plastic bag.
Joshua, 25, died at the Wedgwood Unit in Bury St Edmunds, in September 2019. Suffolk coroner
Nigel Parsley said Joshua’s relatives were not told the bag – used for clothing – was on a restricted list.
Mr Parsley said that “had the family known that was a restricted item, it would not have been taken to the hospital in the first instance”.
And after student Theo BrennanHulme, 21, took his life in Norwich in 2019, the NSFT said there were “missed opportunities” to help him.
Jacqueline Lake, senior coroner for Norfolk, said “a loss of compassion” led to staff believing “some suicides are inevitable” .
Tim Deeming, of Tees Law, who represented the Sahota and Arkle families, said: “For too long the Trust has been failing families, despite the fact we, and others, highlighted numerous concerns.”
As a result of the latest inspection, NSFT was served a warning notice tying it to a legally binding timetable of improvements.
Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust said it was “fully focused on making improvements”.
It added: “One death is one death too many. We are deeply sorry for any pain and distress experienced by patients and families we have let down in the past.”
The Department for Health said patient safety was “our top priority”, adding: “It is vitally important we learn from any mistakes made.”