Admissions to a Lynn mental health ward will remain suspended for the coming months, with no confirmed date for when patients will be able to return.
The Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) has confirmed that admissions to Samphire Ward at Chatterton House remain temporarily paused on “quality and safety grounds”.
Anthony Deery, chief nurse at NSFT, said the building itself remains open, but patients requiring an inpatient admission are being offered an appropriate bed elsewhere within the trust.
Samphire Ward at Chatterton House in Lynn is not taking on new patients. Picture: Google Maps
He said: “Chatterton House remains open, but admissions to Samphire Ward continue to be temporarily paused on quality and safety grounds. There is currently no confirmed date for admissions to resume.”
The latest update follows concerns previously reported by the Lynn News about the temporary suspension of admissions to the ward.
The trust says the pause will continue while it carries out wider changes to mental health services in Norfolk and Suffolk.
Mr Deery said the trust has an “exciting and broad community mental health transformation programme”, including significant new investment in community pathways.
Funding has also been secured for new neighbourhood mental health centres, including one in Lynn, with the aim of providing more care closer to people’s homes.
“Admissions to Samphire Ward will continue to be paused over the coming months whilst we complete this work,” he said.
The trust said the safety of patients and staff remained its “highest priority” and that service users, carers and families were being kept updated.
NSFT said people who require an admission while Samphire Ward remains closed to new admissions will continue to be offered a suitable bed elsewhere within the trust.
The trust has not given a date for when admissions to Samphire Ward are expected to resume.