Clive Lewis For Norwich South
It was revealed this week that our local mental health trust is staying in special measures, still requiring improvements to safety and leadership. I was asked for my views by the local press; here’s what I said in full.
“For almost a decade now, distressed mental health staff and their union, service users and loved ones have been telling me it’s too hard to get treatment, there aren’t enough staff or beds at the mental health trust and too many people are dying. They, like me, will be looking at this report and thinking “is that it?”
Seven years since the alarm was first raised about local mental health services and all that’s happened is that we’ve gone from failing badly and in special measures to failing not quite so badly and still in special measures.
Local people deserve and need high quality, properly resourced mental health services. Under this government, they’ve seen catastrophic underfunding of and cuts to all of the services which sustain our wellbeing and prevent ill health. Until that changes, we’ll be stuck in this tragic Groundhog Day of failing mental health services.”
Read the article in full HERE.