Concern at rise in mental health patient deaths

The Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust has said it is "concerned" at the increase in unexpected community deaths from 95 in 2013-14 to 130 in 2014-15

The number of Norfolk and Suffolk mental health patient deaths has gone up from four to six a month between 2013 and 2015, it has been revealed.

The 50% increase in the average number of deaths, excluding deaths by natural causes or drug-related ones, goes before a trust meeting on Thursday.

Mental health campaigners said the increase points to failures in the reorganisation of services in 2013.

The mental health trust said deaths remained below the national average.

The trust manages a number of Section 136 suites, which are set aside for patients who are detained by police under the Mental Health Act for their own safety

A Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust (NSFT) report said the trust was "concerned" at the increase in unexpected community deaths from 95 in 2013-14 to 130 in 2014-15.

Over the same period the number of serious incidents reported rose from 172 to 228.

A spokesman for the Campaign to Save Mental Health Services in Norfolk and Suffolk said the increase in deaths, which could include suicides and accidents, follows the reorganisation of mental health services in 2013.

The changes saw the Norfolk assertive outreach teams - which focused on high-risk cases - cut, as the trust grappled with multimillion-pound budget reductions.

Labour MP for Norwich South Clive Lewis said the "deaths are yet again the result of people let down by our services"

"We demand a public inquiry into what has gone wrong at NSFT and proper funding to restore decent services," a spokesman said.

Emma Corlett, who represents Unison members working for the trust, said it "illustrates the broken system and the human costs of cuts to mental health".

Norwich South MP Clive Lewis said the deaths were "yet again the result of people let down by our services, who are struggling to do their best under increasing workloads and with less resources".

Jane Sayer, director of nursing, quality and patient safety at NSFT, said: "Our trust has consistently remained below the national average for the number of service user deaths in mental health organisations.

"We take any apparent rise in the number of deaths of our service users extremely seriously. However, with the information we have at this point, there appears to be no significant increase or decrease in the numbers of deaths over the past five years."