Mental Health Trust Lifted from Special Measures, Sees Mixed Progress

In a recent development, the Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT), which was once rated the worst mental health trust in the country, has shown signs of improvement in some of its services. However, the trust still faces ongoing challenges, particularly in its crisis services, according to the latest inspection by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

The NSFT was lifted out of special measures in February 2025 after more than seven years, and its overall rating is now "requires improvement." The CQC has since inspected the trust's community services for adults, rating them as "good," while the crisis services remained at "requires improvement." Concerns persist around emergency referrals and staffing issues within the crisis services.

Despite the mixed results, the trust's chief executive, Caroline Donovan, described the CQC reports as the "most positive our trust has received in a decade." The trust, which is headquartered in Hellesdon, near Norwich, was the first of its kind to receive extra support in 2015. The trust's rating was removed the following year, but it returned to special measures in 2017 due to poor performance.

The CQC found that previous breaches, such as physical health checks, access to crisis services, and staff training, had been addressed. However, the inspectors noted that the trust still struggled to meet the national standard of assessing emergency referrals within four hours, and it took an average of six minutes to answer 111 mental health crisis calls, which is almost two minutes above the national average.

The NSFT Crisis Campaign, which seeks to improve the service, acknowledged that this was the "first time in a long time the trust is not going backwards," but attributed this progress to the "scaffolding" from NHS England and the CQC. The campaign, however, expressed concerns about the scale of change needed for the trust to operate as a safe and effective service.