The future of mental health services provided by the Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust in Great Yarmouth and Waveney.

Waveney MP, Peter Aldous has welcomed HealthEast’s proposals for mental health services in the Great Yarmouth and Waveney area, which have the objective of developing three centres of excellence, including the provision of both Older People’s and Young People’s Services at Carlton Court.

Peter Aldous commented:” HealthEast’s proposals are a positive step forward. They have listened to the concerns of staff, other health professionals, service users and the public and have come forward with proposals that involve no budget cuts and will see Carlton Court continuing to play a vital role in providing mental health care to those living in the Waveney area for many years to come.

“The opening of additional acute beds in Hellesdon Hospital will increase the number of beds available in central Norfolk and will mean that service users from there will be less likely to come to the Waveney and Great Yarmouth area and thus local beds will be available for local people. The transfer of dementia specialist assessment beds to the new Hammerton Court in Norwich will also make state of the art dementia inpatient treatment facilities available for the people of Waveney.

“There is still work to be done in developing mental health services and I shall continue to liaise with Health East to ensure that this is carried out in a timely and seamless fashion in the best interests of people in Waveney.”