Category Archives: Norfolk

Norfolk mental health call centre set to hire extra staff to cope with demand

Mental health chiefs in Norfolk are set to begin a recruitment drive after being surprised by the volume of patient referrals to a new service.

Tuesday, February 11, 2014
6:30 AM

Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) started its access and assessment service almost a year ago to create a singe point of contact for GPs across the county.

But the mental health trust is looking to boost staffing numbers at its call centre at Hellesdon Hospital after missing referral targets.

The organisation, which has been redesigning services over the last two years, is looking to hire two band 6 level staff and two band 5 level staff to extend the opening hours of the service from five days a week to six.

Would you put your life on hold to care for an ex who fell ill?

Rachel did – for the husband she divorced 11 years ago. Odd? No, she says it’s her duty

  • Rachel Adriano, 67, looks after her ex-husband who has terminal cancer
  • She divorced from Andy after 38 years
  • Rachel takes him to hospital and was there to call an ambulance when needed

By Frances Hubbard

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Shock Norfolk social care shake-up after serious concerns raised

Serious concerns over the social care provided to adults with mental health issues has led to Norfolk County Council taking action

Serious concerns that social care for adults with mental health issues in Norfolk is not good enough has led to the county council taking responsibility for the service away from the mental health trust.

Norfolk County Council’s cabinet agreed to the move at a meeting today, which will see just over a hundred staff who had been transferred to the Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust five years ago go back to being managed from County Hall.

Issues around the service were aired at a meeting of the council’s community services overview and scrutiny panel in November.

Councillors at that meeting heard how, at one point, council bosses could not be confident the authority was fully meeting its legal obligations around care.

Bosses admitted then that the social care service for adults with mental health issues in Norfolk was not good enough, as they pledged to make improvements.