North East London NHS Foundation Trust
North East London NHS Foundation Trust (NELFT) is an NHS foundation trust which provides mental and community health services. It runs Foxglove Ward, Goodmayes Hospital and Sunflowers Court in Ilford, Phoenix House in Basildon, Heronwood & Galleon Inpatient Facility in Wanstead, Grays Court Community Hospital in Dagenham, and Hawkwell Court in Chingford. Altogether it operates from more than 150 sites. History. The trust was established as the North East London Mental Health NHS Trust on 5 June 2000, and became operational on 1 April 2001. It became an NHS foundation trust in 2008. In April  2014 Staff at Hawkwell Court in Colvin Gardens, Chingford planned to shut down the facility, which offers long-term stay for older patients suffering from mental health problems and learning disabilities. It was saved from closure a decade ago after relatives of service users and Chingford MP Iain Duncan Smith intervened. In April 2014 as part of the redevelopment of Goodmayes Hospital it closed and proposed to demolish the Goodmayes Hospital Staff Social Club, provoking a protest from Mr Fin Robinson. He was supposed to hand the keys back but said he will remain inside, with the doors chained shut , "until they do the right thing". Services. The trust provides community health and mental health services, including forensic services, psychiatric intensive care units and services for people with learning difficulties in the North East London boroughs of Barking and Dagenham, Havering, Redbridge and Waltham Forest, as well as some services for people in Essex and Kent. Patient entertainment. Goodmayes Hospital has an in-house hospital radio service operated by The first Hospital Radio on the site was founded in 1977 and named Goodmayes Hospitals radio Association with studios located within the original Goodmayes Hospital building. In 2004 the station's  on-air name is 'The Jumbo Sound'. In April 2016, Goodmayes Hospital Radio Assocstion voted to merge with Bedrock Hospital Radio, following financial difficulties following caused by a failed radiator. Performance. The trust NELFT took over children and young people's specialist and targeted mental health services in Kent in 2017. In May 2018 there were 3,869 young people in Kent waiting for treatment. 144 had been waiting more than a year, with 19 more in Medway. 1,481 had been waiting for more than 18 weeks for treatment to start. In 2019 the Trust was downgraded by the CQC from  Good to Requires Improvement. There have been numerous deaths as a result of NELFT's failings. In the first half of 2021 alone, there was a coroner who found failings in the care of Paul Tufton leading to his death. In May an inquest found neglect in the care of Neil Challinor-Mooney, again leading to a death. In June, Ellis Murphy-Richards' suicide was deemed to have been because of failings in care. In July, Anita Mandalia took an overdose as a result of NELFT failing to refer her for mental health treatment. There have been hundreds of NELFT 's mental health patients who have gone missing; in the two years prior to 2020, 100+ such patients went missing. NELFT, together with Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust and other mental health providers are subject an independent inquiry set up by Parliament into mental health services in Essex following numerous failings of these services. The inquiry is now in progress.