The catalogue of leadership failings in the Norfolk & Suffolk Mental Health Trust between 2011-2022 saw some of the most vulnerable patients and their families appallingly treated and NHS England and NSFT leaders refusing to take patient complaints seriously, with an all too familiar culture of denial and unaccountability,  was allowed to go on far too long.

Mental health patients have every right to be treated with the same respect and standards as all other NHS patients.

This is too important to be weaponised as a party political football. Thats why I worked with Norman Lamb MP as Lib Dem Minister for Mental Health in the Coalition and with Clive Lewis MP and the NSFT campaigners to get their voice properly heard in Parliament, DHSC, NSFT and the Norfolk and Waveney Integrated Care Board in a serious process of major reform to the way mental health services are provided.

It’s why I have been using to my freedom since resigning as a Minister in the last Government- to call for a bold decentralisation of the NHS to a properly integrated Norfolk Health and Care Service with mental health and elderly social care all in ONE Norfolk NHS accountable locally to local patients, communities and councils and much less money wasted on vast bureaucracies in NHS HQ and DHSC and the fragmentation of local services in Norfolk across c10 organisations, replaced by a single Norfolk Health & Care Service (NHCS).

So I welcome the apology, rigorous transparency and commitment to reform shown by the new NSFT leadership in its report yesterday.

Whilst it is good to hear that the Guardian reports last year of 8000 preventable deaths from mental illness were incorrect and the number was in fact 494 unexplained deaths in the four years 2019 and 2023 - meaning the Norfolk rate of suicide was the same as the national average, there are major and serious lessons to be learnt and reforms to be made.

It is very important now that the NSFT is reformed urgently. Many have called for its abolition, and I can understand why. But whilst abolition is easy to call for - it would not help the many people in Norfolk who need access to mental health services now. Nor the many dedicated staff who have also been let down by bad leadership historically and want to help vulnerable patients.

The Trust in their report have set out a bold plan to reform the system. They must make it patient and user focussed, place based, integrated properly  with the health system and community health boards.

It is encouraging to see the new Leadership team have delivered reduced waiting times for assessment and treatment, as well as a net increase of 100 nurses and 34 doctors in the last year. This is an encouraging start but there is much more to do.

The people who need these services are the most vulnerable in our society and it is crucial that all newly elected MPs work together cross-party to ensure that the NSFT fulfil their commitments in the report.

I will continue my commitment to pursue this as a priority project and campaign in the new Parliament and work with all MPs across Norfolk and Suffolk and new Ministers to

• ensure urgent reform delivery in the spirit of this report
• much more local accountability and transparency
• much stronger respect for patient voice
• greater integration with local NHS and care services
• represent the views of Patients and users in Mid Norfolk

Please write to me if you have any concerns on this issue so that I can pick them up and make representations on your behalf. 

To read the full report please visit: NSFT publish Learning from Deaths report | News and events | Norfolk and Suffolk NHS

For background on my historic work on NSFT click here.