Challenging the Narrative: The Reality Behind NSFT’s Mental Health Services
Introduction
Recently, Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust (NSFT) shared an article in a local paper, claiming progress and improvements in their mental health services. To anyone working in, using, or supporting those who rely on these services, this portrayal feels worryingly out of touch with reality.
Article
The article in the local paper that I’m responding to is on this following link: https://www.greatyarmouthmercury.co.uk/news/25219990.norfolk-suffolk-nhs-trust-aims-end-area-care/?ref=socialflow&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR6XcWjG0PTuXlCGR5htYIlmk6xdF0XzbH_HgkHRyF4bYNGEThDh4ABI9XOWfg_aem_Rm1MCvRZCP87p7oVE_B9qg
The Harsh Truth Behind the Headlines
What the article fails to acknowledge—or deliberately avoids—is how desperately hard it is to access an inpatient mental health bed when someone is in crisis. I hear stories regularly that would make anyone angry, shocked, and deeply saddened. People in need are left waiting, struggling, and suffering because the system is stretched far beyond its capacity.
A Service in Crisis
NSFT may talk about new models of care and ambition to “end area-based mental health care,” but when you look beyond the buzzwords, the truth is clear: there is a serious, ongoing crisis. The people who need care the most are being let down by systemic failure and poor leadership. Dedicated front-line staff—who genuinely care and work hard—are being dragged down by these failings, unable to provide the level of service they want to give.
Poor Leadership, Poor Outcomes
In my opinion, the leadership at NSFT seems detached from the real, painful experiences of those both giving and receiving care. When the people at the top don’t understand—or refuse to acknowledge—the struggle on the ground, real change is impossible. Their public statements give a false impression of success, but the reality is very different.
A Call for Honesty and Real Action
NSFT must stop hiding behind PR-friendly articles and face the uncomfortable truth: this service is struggling, its people are struggling, and most importantly, the patients are suffering. Only by admitting these failures can real improvements be made.
Conclusion
The good staff at NSFT deserve better leadership. And the people of Norfolk and Suffolk deserve real, accessible, compassionate mental health care—not just hopeful words in the local press.
One Response
Dear John
My cousin Sarah, Isabel’s eldest sister tells me about the Aboriginals of Australia. She tells me of their oneness with the land. Not their land, the land. When you go to visit them you should be in the right frame of mind. Obviously one should approach the dwellers in their land with respect. It is my understanding from what my cousin Sarah tells me that part of the respect is for the place. If not the majority of the respect, a significant amount of the respect.
How do you show respect as you approach their dwellings. I don’t know particularly. The Pope would kiss the ground. Someone else might approach with a gift of a potted plant. I thinking about this would approach with a book. The book would be a science fiction book. One that I could lend them to read or have someone read them, like a live audio book.
I visited my Dad today and took my reMarkable II which has a lot of written words inside. I chose a few pieces of writing to read to him. He seemed quite talkative for someone I just woke up so I could speak with him. He was telling me things about his current home. He seemed to know all the people there, if not to speak to, to speak about to me.
I have found that reading and writing as a form of communication can alleviate stress and help with cognitive function. Sometimes there is a delayed reaction. So you read to someone and write about something. Later the veil is lifted and you see more clearly what should have been obvious in the first place.
Or. Something you know is confirmed, giving confidence to a direction you have chosen.
Sometimes talking is not enough … A recording of events as you see them, so truth (your truth), can be exposed to those that can read.
I am of the opinion that acute care is only overwhelmed because the role of preventative care is under utilised.
It is important to have the safety net, however, without the trapeze how do you learn to fall gracefully, let alone learn to fly.
NSFT’s Recovery College is so useful to me. I ask a lot of questions and meet the best people. The Clinician we have access to offers suggestions born out of excellent health education the Peer Support tutor with lived experience like us, as often service user and ex service user. We, also, can ask questions about psychosis without a conversation loss or a lack of response. Like why can we not say psychosis without people looking oddly at you.
Psychosis is a naturally occurring energy and has a motivational possibility. Do not seek it out, handle it when it arrives, learn and understand how susceptible you are to it. Sleep or not sleep on it.
The picture is a gift from up high.
KR
David