On 10th October 2024, I spoke in a debate in Parliament to mark World Mental Health Day. I used my speech to raise the ongoing concerns with the level of care provided by the Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust.
I raised my concerns over the level of ‘unexpected’ deaths that the Trust, as well as the scandal of unrecorded deaths, which stemmed from the Trust’s widely documented and shockingly insufficient internal mortality reporting processes.
I also requested a meeting with the Minister responsible for mental health to discuss the route forward for improving mental health care in Suffolk. Because, as I said in the debate, families who have suffered so much deserve justice. And all of my constituents deserve change.
An excerpt of my speech is below, but you can read the full speech here.
“Sitting in this room today are Members from every corner of the country, and from all sides of this House, evidence that the mental health crisis is undeniably a national crisis. But, my constituents in Ipswich, under the Norfolk and Suffolk Mental Health Trust [NSFT], suffer a particularly desperate service in an already-broken system.
“Since its creation in 2012 the NSFT has been, and arguably still is, the worst performing mental health trust in the whole country.
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“But with a new government comes opportunity for a new approach. Could I therefore ask the Minister to meet with me, to discuss a pathway to justice and change in Suffolk’s mental health services?
“Because that is the crux of this debate. The families who have suffered so much deserve justice. And all of my constituents deserve change.
“They are both inseparable. We simply cannot have one without the other. And there is no time to waste in delivering.”
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