Nikki Fox BBC Profile picture
BBC Health Correspondent (East). Proud mum of child who calls “mummy” @ TV but prefers music Nikki.fox@bbc.co.uk https://t.co/JNJKsiikz0
Jan 22 13 tweets 3 min read
The NHS in Norfolk confirms the first phase of the policy for police to not respond to mental health calls unless they believe there’s a risk to life is due to start in February. It says all agencies are working together to implement Right care, right person carefully. They have developed a standard operating procedure, and completed workshops on how it will be implemented. I understand no additional national funding has been made available to support the implementation.
Nov 29, 2023 9 tweets 2 min read
Family plea to 'take action' over ambulance delay deaths

Please read what the family has to say. Christopher Hart was just 50.

bbc.co.uk/news/uk-englan… He died after waiting more than eight hours for an ambulance. The service says there were none available at time of call as there was high demand and they were waiting outside hospitals to offload patients. The average waiting time was supposed to be 40 mins….
Jan 6, 2023 28 tweets 5 min read
A 🧵about the shocking lack of support for a mental health patient with #autism and learning disabilities. It’s in Essex again. This is Chris Nota from Southend who was 19 when he died in the summer of 2020. He had lots of friends. In fact when he died hundreds turned out in Priory Park in Southend in his memory. They released balloons. So how did this happen? Chris was close to his family and took the death of his Grandmother hard. He was worried about the pandemic.
Jan 4, 2023 4 tweets 1 min read
King's Lynn patient forced to wait in ambulance for 12 hours - BBC News bbc.co.uk/news/uk-englan… bbc.co.uk/news/uk-englan…
Jan 3, 2023 23 tweets 5 min read
What I’ve learnt about the situation facing the NHS today. A 🧵
This is Mervyn, 84. A clever man.
Mervyn had heart failure, ver low oxygen saturation and was struggling to breathe. It took 20 minutes for the ambulance (East of England) to pretty promptly arrive. However Mervyn was taken to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King’s Lynn on the 27th December. The family says he was inside the parked up ambulance at the hospital outside A&E for 12 hours. They did do an X ray and wheeled him out in the rain and back into the ambulance.
Dec 30, 2022 4 tweets 1 min read
Still more than 200 patients at Norfolk and Norwich hospital declared fit for discharge, despite appointment of winter ops manager and government funding (if it’s with nhs/social services). Reports of 22 ambulances parked outside today and 37 at one point 2 days ago. Reports of handovers taking up to 18 hours
Nov 9, 2022 5 tweets 1 min read
Organisations involved in RCN strike in East:
Cambs & Peterborough NHS FT (mental health)
Norfolk and Norwich Hospital
Addenbrookes and Rosie
Papworth
Colchester and Ipswich Hospital
Norfolk Community Health and Care (community nurses in norfolk apart from Yarmouth) Norfolk and Suffolk Mental Health
Cambs community services
Herts community
West suffolk hospital
All ICB staff in Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex
Kettering general
East Mids Ambulance RCN members
Northants healthcare FT (mental health)
Nov 9, 2022 4 tweets 1 min read
Hugely worrying Especially as she was carrying a press card
Nov 5, 2022 9 tweets 2 min read
The Telegraph is reporting a category two patient (heart attack/stroke) had to wait 24 hours and 41 minutes to get an ambulance response in the East of England. The longest wait for any condition in country was also in East (almost 40 hours). Almost TWO days. Just to clarify it may not have been a heart attack or stroke. But this category does include these calls and classed as “a serious condition which may require urgent transport”
Aug 9, 2022 12 tweets 2 min read
BREAKING: More than 140 mental health doctors have jointly signed a letter to Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust Chair saying the substantive medical staff body “lacks confidence in the Executive Board to resolve the plight of NSFT” On staffing: “the clinical services are unable to provide good basic care and are unsafe”.
On management: “there is a general dysfunction with perpetual changes of key staff in Executive posts and ever increasing layers of management”
Aug 8, 2022 11 tweets 2 min read
SEVEN years after first rated inadequate
FIVE years after Panorama
🔴Staff describe “chaos” and “bedlam”
🔴Three sacked
🔴Coroner issues another prevention of future death report
Managers @ mental health trust encouraged staff to falsify records: bbc.co.uk/news/uk-englan… It wasn’t managers who were dismissed.
Jan 20, 2022 11 tweets 3 min read
This is 17 year old Rachel Hall and her mother Michelle from Orford in Suffolk. She attempted to take her life in July 2020 as the country was just coming out of lockdown. She ended up in hospital but says she wasn’t offered face to face mental health help for 7 months Rachel didn’t want to speak to anyone over phone. In fact she refused because of the state she was in. She says she was told it’d be a six week wait for phone help. So her family went private instead so she could see a therapist quickly and face to face.
Jan 20, 2022 19 tweets 4 min read
BREAKING: Hotel in Norwich city centre is to start taking patients from hospital because of lack of social care beds. 15 patients transferred there initially. Will be in operation for 3 months and staffed by trained carers from Abicare. Will open in next few weeks The system in Norfolk is on critical incident which is affecting other health services (see mental health thread). It’s for people who are ready to leave hospital but need extra support before go home. So more people who need a little more than homecare. Opens in next two weeks
Jan 4, 2022 16 tweets 2 min read
BREAKING: Whole Norfolk and waveney healthcare system on Opel Four critical incident including ambulance service, community services, three hospitals and social services. West Suffolk Hospital one alert level down (internal critical incident). Also pressured
Dec 21, 2021 6 tweets 2 min read
1/2 Chair of West Suffolk Hospital Sheila Childerhouse to step down in January. In a statement she said: “I recognise and take personal accountability for the failings identified in the independent review into whistleblowing… and believe it is in the best interests of the organisation, our staff, patients and community that I do. It is important that the Trust is not distracted as we move forward, rebuild and continue our work to create an open, fair and inclusive organisation.
Sep 19, 2021 4 tweets 1 min read
Bosses say Pandemic demand means it’s likely some mental health patients will continue to be sent miles from home until next March despite pledge to end practice by now.

East Anglia trust continues to break out of area care target - BBC News bbc.com/news/uk-englan… The trust says: “we will be increasing support to prevent crises and care for people at home as much as possible.”
Sep 15, 2021 25 tweets 4 min read
1. All inpatient mental health beds for children run by EPUT have been closed to new admissions. Essex: Children harmed by mental health service failings - BBC News bbc.com/news/uk-englan… This is the same trust recently fined £1.5m after the deaths of 11 other patients in its care. These three units have 38 beds so this has hugely reduced the number of children/young people’s mental health beds in East of England.
Sep 14, 2021 16 tweets 4 min read
1). @BBCLookEast This is the tented marquee set up outside Addenbrookes A&E. It’s there so ambulances can offload patients to the tent before they are triaged by hospital staff. Previously they could have been in the back of an ambulance for 4 hours. 2). It’s being done so that ambulances can get back on the road for urgent calls. That’s a problem. At one point in August one third of the East of England ambulances were parked outside hospitals waiting. They say demand is unprecedented.