Furious campaigners have lodged a formal complaint against care regulators who boosted the rating of the region's troubled mental health trust. The Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust saw its rating upgraded from inadequate to requires improvement in its last Care Quality Commission inspection. However, it has faced fierce scrutiny since this outcome, with continuing questions over the quality of care it offers and the way the organisation is managed.
These have included criticism for spending £850,000 of public money on a PR agency around the time of the inspection and a scandal involving mortality data. Now, members of the Campaign to Save Mental Health Services in Norfolk and Suffolk has lodged a formal complaint with the CQC over its handling of the inspection and decision to upgrade the trust. They have accused the inspectors of "maladministration" while running the rule over the organisation.
Hellesdon Hospital, the headquarters of the Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (Image: Newsquest) In an open letter to the CQC, the campaign said: "It is our contention that inspectors did not demonstrate sufficient curiosity or rigour and were too easily convinced by evidence presented to them. "They chose to take accounts at face value rather than probing to ensure all was bona fide." The campaign also voiced frustration that its members were not included in the inspection process - as they have been in the past.
But the regulator has defended the February 2023 inspection, which was published later that year. A CQC spokeswoman said: "We came to our decision by using a number of different evidence sources, including information provided to us by the trust, publicly available information, other working documents and risks and performance reports. "We corroborated this information with other evidence including our inspections of wards and services, interviews and focus groups with staff working at different levels and feedback from people using services, their loved ones and carers.
"We don't use just one evidence source, we make sure any written information provided is corroborated using evidence from other sources. "This is so we can be confident our assessment is accurate and evidence-based." The CQC added that anybody with concerns about an organisation can contact them on 03000 616161,.
