The government has announced a £343 million investment to create 159 new NHS mental health facilities across England, including 100 community mental health centres and 59 dedicated mental health emergency departments.

Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital (Image: Newsquest)

Norfolk is set to receive two new community mental health centres, serving North Norfolk and East Norfolk (Great Yarmouth and Waveney), alongside a dedicated mental health emergency department at Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital.

Speaking exclusively to the Eastern Daily Press, Dame Diana Johnson DBE, minister of state at the Department of Health and Social Care, said the changes would transform the way people in Norfolk access support by making it closer to home and without months of waiting.

“What we’ve announced today is basically a major redesign of mental health services,” she said.

“At the moment, if someone’s condition worsens, they would have to seek help by going through a GP to get a referral into the right services."

Asked what the changes would actually mean for somebody living in Norfolk this winter, Dame Diana gave the example of a person in Great Yarmouth developing severe depression or an eating disorder.

“So, perhaps someone in Great Yarmouth who’s got a mental health illness, perhaps has got an eating disorder or severe depression,” she said.

“At the moment, if their condition worsens, they would have to seek help by going through a GP to get a referral into the right services.

“What these community mental health centres will be about is allowing an individual to go and seek help at the earliest opportunity in a setting that’s in the local community.”

Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital (Image: Newsquest)

Rather than being based in hospitals, the new........

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