Visit to Hellesdon Hospital in Norwich, part of Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust

Our chief executive, Daniel Elkeles, recently visited Hellesdon Hospital in Norwich, part of Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust which provides mental health services to over 1.6 million people who live in their patch. 

Daniel said: “To say that the trust has had a chequered history would be an understatement and it has the unwelcome accolade for being the most CQC inspected trust. However, the trust has turned the corner and has benefitted from strong experienced leadership in the past couple of years. In the most recent CQC inspection adult community services were rated as ‘good’. Their new strategy of improving together by being safer, kinder and better summed up my impression. They have:

🔵Reduced the number of adults waiting more than 18 weeks for treatment by 84%.

🔵Put over 350 staff through listening into action training.

🔵Reduced their vacancy rate to less than 10% overall and 8% for medical staff. 

“One of the highlights of the visit was seeing their brand new acute psychiatric wards which have won plenty of awards for their design. All the single ensuite rooms are built around communal courtyards with gym equipment and gardens with superb artwork, provided by a charity ‘Hospital Rooms’ in the communal areas.

“The other was the mother and baby unit which is an eight-bed regional service that opened in 2019. The unit is run by a multi-disciplinary team of psychologists, midwives, children’s nurses and therapists. Pregnancy and post birth are the most likely times to trigger mental health issues for women. The team said the most rewarding parts of their work is seeing families get better together and ensuring the children get the best possible start to their lives. On the day of my visit a baby massage class had just taken place, a family of guinea pigs were providing pet therapy and one of the women was preparing to cook dinner for all the women on the unit. The average length of stay on the unit is six to twelve weeks and lots of support is given to ensure successful discharge back home.

“Thank you so much to Caroline and team with particular thanks to Fatma, Justine and Melanie for a fascinating visit.”