Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT)

I was assessed for wellbeing, which was just not appropriate for me. Saw the Psychiatrist after that and was told 'you will get treated if you try kill yourself!' What a thing to say. I find that shocking. Prevention surely is better than needing to access a higher level of service, which clearly is also undeliverable. The group courses were very fixed in the way they are delivered (no flexibility, understandably due to group sizes you cannot help everyone individually). If you have a questions, they do not answer it, or say they will later then do not. They also palm you off to the Samaritans who are stretched and are a charity. NSFT are funded to deliver a service, which they do not do even slightly well.

Because I am a carer and my son (the service user) remains undiagnosed after 9 years I tried to complain. I gave up in 2015 because of the necessity for a consent form to be signed in the presence of a third party but after three more years of incompetence which has caused intolerable suffering for our family I at last persuaded my son to sign the form so we could make a complaint. This was done in Spring 2018 when he was feeling better after a poor winter with SAD which characterises his condition. The NSFT sent numerous delaying letters until a reply arrived in autumn just as my son was descending into his SAD. This has meant that he is unable to help unravel the pages of excuses we were given. I have tried to follow up a few so-clled facts but have not been able to do so without his cooperation e.g. PALS need him to contact them to release his medical records, I his carer cannot do this despite his sign the form in the presence of a third party in order to make the complaint on his behalf. So you must understand for every complaint that has reached the same point as ours, there must be dozens who have given up. I mave many more hoops to jump through and may have to wait for my son to recover in the spring. The irony is that his Care team from Central IDT discharged him in the autumn again DESPITE three times having him referred back by other agencies because of his winter anxieties. It is VERY likely - and I have done a good deal of research and case studies - that my son is undiagnosed high level autism. The NSFT has robbed my family of so much and care so little.

Rude receptionist and despite asking for at least the title of the encrypted document.
No one able to access the persons emails that had sent. For all I know it could be my DNR request. Appears if a manager is away emails are not accessible even by other managers.

Lack of staff available to care for my daughter and provide her with a support worker. There is confusion over the information they give to the family. Waiting times are so long for anything to be done and you get passed from person to person. IDT staff all say if there's a problem call the police rather than them. Its been a constantly poor service for the last 10 years.

Services to support people are very lacking and there is not enough support available at times to suit people who work. The mental health nurses in the police control centre work really well.

There is a lack of communication, letters do not arrive and they say that you cancel your appointments, when you're not invited in the first place, it really feels like they don't want to help. The service isn't together enough to be able to help either, no one talks to each other. There is also a huge gap in the service when students return from university. It makes it incredibly difficult to get the support needed. Its taken 3 months to get an appointment since I came home. There should be continuous care from one provider to another. I really can't get the support I need and have to rely on a charity for support. I saw my old care coordinator once but then heard nothing more.

The support provided is limited and the phone calls weren't really what was needed. It would be better if the staff had a better understanding.

I was a patient on Poppy Ward at Woodlands for 11 weeks under ‘section’.
I experienced some excellent care but feel that so many opportunities were missed. During my stay, there was a heavy reliance on agency staff, particularly at night. This often resulted in breakdowns in communication, medication errors, and a general apathy in terms of engagement with patients.

finally after 95 days got a discharge letter this was the 3rd attempt still not factually correct.

An urgent referral was made to AAT but the notes were lost and then they were sent to the wrong area who wouldn't support us. We almost sat in the middle geographically so no one wanted to take my daughter on. It has taken a long time to get support and we've never seen the same person more tham once. It has been a fight the whole way to get the support our daughter needs.