Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust should be improved before disability payments are slashed, groups say
An NHS trust has been labelled the “worst in the country” by a campaign group in its fight against disability cuts.
Norfolk and Suffolk Mental Health Crisis, an action group, has called out the Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust for its poor services.
This came just before the Government scaled back its welfare reforms, which would have meant Personal Independence Payments (PIP) applied to less claimants from November 2026.
The Government backtracked on the plans after Labour MPs, such as South West Norfolk’s Terry Jermy, rebelled against them.
Opposing the original plans, Norfolk and Suffolk Mental Health Crisis said that many of its members have severe mental illnesses and life-long conditions, so they and their families rely on these benefits to survive.
They claimed that if their financial support was slashed, they would only be left with the NHS Foundation Trust, which they believe to be inadequate.
But even with those already claiming PIP unaffected by the bill thanks to the U-turn, it does not mean the fight is over, as changes could still come into force following a review by Stephen Timms, the Minister of State for Social Security and Disability.
Vickie Joel, from the Lynn-based West Norfolk Disability Information Service, told the Lynn News that the charity agrees with the outcome.
She said that “crucially”, a discussion needs to be had with the disabled community as part of the process.
But there are still lingering concerns about wider issues, including what Mr Jermy describes as “systemic problems”, that need to be tackled before any reforms take place.
“We should be helping more people get into work, supporting businesses to do more and improving the efficiency of the welfare system to drive down costs,” he said.
“We should be doing all this, but we should not be making changes to eligibility before we’ve done all those things.”
He agreed with the campaign group that Norfolk’s mental health trust is not up to scratch.
“It has been riddled with issues for many years and has long failed local residents,” he said.
As one of the 120 MPs to have signed for the plan amendments, he said that improving the NHS and wider services would reduce the number of people reliant on welfare.
“After years of cuts and austerity, we have record NHS waiting lists, and this has an impact on demand for welfare support,” he added.
“I have specifically cited the mental health trust in Norfolk as another cause of increased demand.”
The campaign group says that if people who rely on welfare cannot receive payments, it would put more pressure on an already “overstretched and poorly managed” mental health service.
It claimed that if the number of people needing mental help increases, and services cannot handle it, “more people will die”.
But despite being labelled the “worst”, the Norfolk and Suffolk trust argues it is actually performing above the England average on all national mental health performance metrics.
“The trust has been on an improvement journey since the arrival of our new CEO, Caroline Donovan, in the autumn of 2023,” a spokesperson said.
“The trust-wide improvements have been recognised by NHS England, who moved us out of special measures in January after many years.
“Our improvements include the creation of a service user and carer council, with plans to develop one council in each of our five new localities.
“This is essential to making sure the voices of service users, carers and families are at the heart of everything we do.”
It highlighted that in some areas, waiting times have reduced, and it has also strengthened its leadership and reduced vacancies.
“We can see the impact of this work on service users already, and are receiving more positive comments about our services, while our friends and family test results have also improved,” the spokesperson added.
“However, we are not complacent and know that there is still much work to do to transform our services so that everyone receives safer, kinder and better services from us when they need them.”
In his fortnightly Lynn News column, North West Norfolk Conservative MP talked about the backtrack on welfare reform.
“As a Conservative, I firmly believe in supporting the vulnerable and those who cannot work due to a disability or ill health, providing a proper safety net,” he said.
“However, we cannot ignore the fact that spending on health and disability benefits is set to hit £100billion by the end of the decade.”
He said that if action was not taken, the growing bill would have meant that £1 in every £4 of income tax would be spent on those benefits.
“This is neither fair to people left on benefits or taxpayers who pay for it, nor is it sustainable,” he added.
You can read more about his views in this Friday’s paper.
