NHS patients have been sent hundreds of miles from Norfolk for their treatment while a key ward was renovated, with one woman spending almost an entire year out of the county.
Since the Rollesby ward in Hellesdon Hospital closed in March 2021, patients needing the most acute psychiatric care have had to travel to facilities elsewhere in the country.
Some were sent as far away as Hexham, near Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and Bristol, as mental health bed shortages took their toll nationally.
Among these was a woman in her 30s who spent almost an entire year - 347 days - being treated in a psychiatric intensive care unit (PICU) in Cygnet Hospital in Godden Green, in Sevenoaks in Kent.
In total, patients spent a staggering 3,354 days being cared for out of Norfolk and Suffolk - the equivalent of just over nine years.
Campaigners say the figures, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, highlight the desperate need for greater investment in mental health beds and staff locally.
The Rollesby ward has continued to be a challenge for the Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust following its initial closure, with lengthy delays in re-opening it.
When it finally did welcome patients back, in February 2023, staffing shortages meant it could only do so at reduced capacity - with out-of-area placements continuing after this point.
In September, the same issues meant the trust was forced to stop accepting new patients on the troubled ward, which is now a female-only PICU.
Alex Lewis, chief medical officer at NSFT, said: "We always strive to admit people to beds locally, but sometimes, for various reasons this is simply not possible.
"The re-opening of Rollesby ward has had a positive impact and means more women from Norfolk and Suffolk can now receive specialist care and treatment without the need to travel.
"We carefully consider every decision to place a patient out of area and review our beds throughout the day so we can move people back as early as possible."
Mark Harrison, chairman of the Campaign to Save Mental Health Services in Norfolk and Suffolk, said: "This outlines what the campaign has always said about there not being enough beds to meet the needs of people in crisis and distress.
"The fact people are still being sent hundreds of miles from their homes, their relatives and their loved ones is a disgrace and highlights how not just NSFT but NHS commissioners, ministers and the government are failing the people of Norfolk and Suffolk."
Independent county councillor Emma Corlett, a former mental health nurse, said: "Local commissioners pledged to end out of area placements by April 2014 - almost 10 years later and the government has failed to provide the resources to support them to achieve that pledge.
"We wouldn't tolerate this for physical health care reasons - why is it acceptable for those in mental health crisis?
"This is only part of the story - we know that the lack of beds also leads to delayed or denied hospital admissions - sometimes with fatal consequences."
WHERE ARE NORFOLK PATIENTS BEING SENT?
Since the original closure of Rollesby ward, 58 people have been sent out of Norfolk and Suffolk for psychiatric intensive care.
These include:
- A woman in her 50s who spent 15 days at Cygnet Hospital in Hexham
- A man in his 40s who spent 20 days in Priory Hospital in Bristol
- A woman in her 30s placed at Cygnet Hospital in Kent for 347 days
- A man in his 60s who spent 214 days in Priory Hospital, Cheadle, near Manchester
- A man in his 60s who spent 49 days at Cygnet Victoria House in Darlington
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