Category Archives: mental health

Mental health patients ‘failed’ says report on Hellesdon Hospital

February 19, 2014   Carers, mental health, Norfolk

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) report said improvements were needed

Hellesdon Hospital

A Norfolk hospital which looks after people with mental health problems is failing to meet expected levels of care, according to a report.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) report on Hellesdon Hospital said improvements were needed.

It said patients’ needs were “not always assessed in a timely way” and many care plans were out of date.

The Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the hospital, said it was addressing concerns.

The CQC also found that risk assessments were often incomplete, and that one patient inspectors talked to did not know he had been detained under the Mental Health Act.

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

February 11, 2014   Carers, mental health, Norfolk

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.

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Caring for the ill can cost you your freedom

February 10, 2014   Carers, mental health, stroke
The writer Mary Kenny has cared for her husband diligently following his stroke. But at what personal cost, she asks herself in a new book

 

Before the falls: Richard West reported on the Vietnam War, but his life with Mary was to change for ever after his stroke at the age of 66

By Mary Kenny

7:00AM GMT 10 Feb 2014

Those who are carers for their partners or families are often called saintly: and some are indeed saintly. But saintliness does not come naturally to everyone, and some of us have to strive not to feel resentment as a carer. We do our best: we want to look after those we love. But sometimes it’s a struggle.

It was 1996 and I had travelled to Bordeaux in France, with my sons, for a family wedding. My husband, Richard West, chose not to come along. That was OK by me: we were not one of those couples who did everything together and family weddings were not his gig. Richard’s gig, preferably, was being in Vietnam, or the Balkans, or anywhere, really: he’d been a foreign correspondent and wandering reporter all his life.

This was just before the era of the ubiquitous mobile phone, so I am not quite sure how the message reached me: but family networks were alerted and I received the instruction to ring London because Richard, then aged 66, was in hospital after a stroke. He was not in any danger but I needed to return to England as soon as possible. I remember thinking, “Our life is going to change: but I am not going to let this take over my life.”

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