Police and doctors who treated Valdo Calocane ‘have blood on their hands’, say families of…

August 13, 2024, 01:05 | Updated: August 13, 2024, 01:21

Police and doctors who treated Valdo Calocane “have blood on their hands”, families of the victims of the Nottingham attack have said.

A review of Calocale’s care before the Nottingham attacks found that risk assessments downplayed the fact that he was refusing to take his medication and had ongoing and persistent symptoms of psychosis.

The report – by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) – also questioned how well Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (NHFT) engaged with Calocane’s family, who raised concerns about his mental state.

Calocane stabbed students Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar, both 19, as they returned from a night out in the early hours of June 13 last year before killing 65-year-old Ian Coates.

The victims’ families said the review “demonstrates gross and systematic failings” and also claimed they had confirmation that a public inquiry into the case would be held.

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A joint statement said: “This report demonstrates gross and systematic failings by the mental health trust in its dealings with Calocane, from start to finish.

“The physicians involved in all stages of Calocane’s treatment must bear a heavy burden of responsibility for their failures and poor decision-making.

“Sadly, this is the first in a series of damning reports on the failures of government agencies that led to the murder of our loved ones, and more.

“We have been harmed by numerous organizations before and after June 13, 2023.”

The statement went on to say: “Along with Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire police forces, these departments and individual professionals have blood on their hands.

“Alarmingly, there appears to be little or no accountability among the senior management team within the mental health trust. We question how and why these people are still in place.”

The special review of mental health services at NHFT was ordered by former health secretary Victoria Atkins in January after Calocane was sentenced to an indefinite hospital stay.

The CQC said Calocane’s records made it “clear” he was “seriously ill” during the two years he was in NHFT’s care.

He was psychotic and suffered from paranoid delusions before finally being diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia in July 2020.

Between May 2020 and February 2022, eight risk assessments were completed for Calocane by the trust, which the CQC said appear to have been carried out for each of his admissions to hospital and updated at other points during his treatment.

The regulator said that while some risks had been highlighted, other assessments had “downplayed or omitted important details”.

These include Calocane refusing to take his medication, having ongoing and persistent symptoms of psychosis, being violent towards others when his psychosis was not well controlled, and escalating his violent behavior in the later stages of his treatment.

Chris Dzikiti, acting chief inspector of healthcare at the CQC, said: “This review identifies where poor decision-making, omissions and errors of judgement contributed to a situation where a patient with very serious mental health problems did not receive the support and care they needed.

“While it is not possible to say that the devastating events of 13 June 2023 would not have occurred had Valdo Calocane been given this support, what is clear is that the risk he posed to the public was not well managed and that opportunities to mitigate that risk were missed.”

The CQC said Calocane had “poor understanding or acceptance of his condition”, which could “have significantly impaired his ability” to assess the pros and cons of antipsychotic treatment and the risks of stopping it.

It would have been possible to treat him under section 3 of the Mental Health Act (MHA) 1983 – which would give doctors the power to administer medication against his will – on his fourth hospital admission in January 2022, the regulator said.

Instead, he was treated under section 2 of the act, which is generally for patients who are not known to mental health services.

Among its recommendations, the CQC said the NHFT should review treatment plans for people with schizophrenia regularly, as well as ensure clinical oversight of decisions to detain people under sections 2 and 3 of the Mental Health Act.

It also called for NHS England to publish guidance setting national standards for the care of people with complex psychosis and paranoid schizophrenia within the next 12 months.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting said: “I want to reassure myself and the country that the failings identified in Nottinghamshire are not being repeated elsewhere.

“I hope the findings and recommendations of this report are considered and implemented across the country so that other families do not have to go through the unimaginable pain that the family of Barnaby, Grace and Ian are experiencing.”

The handling of the Calocane case sparked an outcry and led to numerous investigations into the public bodies involved, including Nottinghamshire Police and Leicestershire Police.

A spokesperson for Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust said: “We acknowledge and accept the findings of this report and have significantly improved processes and standards since the review was carried out.”