Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) have published an in-depth report covering all deaths across Norfolk and Suffolk between April 2019 and October 2023.
The report reviews the deaths of people in Norfolk and Suffolk who received care from NSFT, and gives evidence about the quality of the Trust’s services and how they could be improved.
The analysis screened 12,503 deaths in the April 2019-October 2023 period. Of these deaths, 6,385 patients received care from NSFT within the last six months of their life and met the scope of the review.
Of these 6,385 patients, 92% died from natural causes, including 3,598 expected deaths due to natural causes (56%) and 2,293 unexpected deaths due to natural causes (36%).
418 of the deaths were unexpected and unnatural (7%), while the cause of 76 deaths was unknown (1%).
During this period, there were 14 Prevention of Future Deaths Notices issued from coroners instructing the Trust to improve care to prevent future deaths.
The publication of the report honours a commitment made by NSFT Chief Executive Caroline Donovan when she assumed her position in November 2023, when she pledged to investigate deaths and share the findings.
Caroline said: “Today’s report marks a crucial milestone for us and more importantly, for bereaved families and relatives who were rightly concerned about whether the Trust had a record of the death of their loved ones.
“We will learn from and use this evidence to deal with problems and improve care.
“This report rights a wrong. We can’t learn from these sad outcomes and experiences, and we can’t assess our performance and quality if we don’t know what’s happening to the people in our care.”
The investigation is representative of the Trust’s wider programme to improve patient care and services and to be more open about the problems it is facing.
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