Nottingham attack families ask Streeting for names of staff who treated killer
A February report into the care received by Calocane detailed how he was not forced to have long-lasting antipsychotic medication because he did not like needles, and how other patients at Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust also went on to commit 'extremely serious' acts of violence.
The relatives of 19-year-old students Grace O'Malley-Kumar and Barnaby Webber, and 65-year-old caretaker Ian Coates, met with Wes Streeting on Monday and asked for those responsible to be held accountable.
After the meeting, Dr Sanjoy Kumar, Grace's father, said: 'It was the actions of a few people that put a dangerous man out in the community'.
Calocane, who had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, killed three people and attempted to kill three more in Nottingham in June 2023.
He was sentenced to an indefinite hospital order in January 2024 after admitting manslaughter by diminished responsibility and attempted murder.
Calocane was admitted to hospital and sectioned under the Mental Health Act four times between 2020 and 2022 because of his violent behaviour and refusal to take his medication, before NHS services lost track of him and discharged him in the months before the attacks.
Three reports: including one by the Care Quality Commission (CQC); described failings in his care but none included practitioners' names, Dr Kumar said with copies of the documents in-hand.
Speaking outside the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC), he told reporters: 'We'd like to know who was involved in the care of this person who committed all this harm. Why aren't there any names?
'He was sectioned four times – was it four different consultants? Was it one consultant? Who were the teams who didn't do their jobs?'
He said: 'I think we deserve to know the detail – everyone in the country who has suffered the way we have through mental health-related homicide deserves to have the detail.
'When an operation goes wrong, someone gets named.'
Dr Kumar added: 'We want people to just know, if they did wrong, what is it they need to do to be put right? Whether it's retraining, whether it's … doing the professional development again.
'The point is that you just can't have people who are providing a risky service even now.'
He added that the Health Secretary was 'very much on our side, he very much wants to see a way through' and that Mr Streeting has promised 'he's going to work hard at it'.
Prior to the meeting, the families said in a statement that their correspondence with the mental health trust's chief executive, Ifti Majid, had been 'light on detail, vague, evasive, defensive and contradictory'.
They added that he failed to answer Dr Kumar's questions.
Dr Kumar said he has given Mr Streeting the questions he put to the chief executive.
He said the Health Secretary 'has promised to do his best to get us all the answers', adding that he has confidence in Mr Streeting because he has 'taken a personal interest in this case' and likewise 'wants to end homicide by mental health'.
Their meeting also follows a complaint lodged with the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) by the families regarding an 'offensive' encounter with one of the watchdog's regional directors.
Dr Kumar told The Sunday Times newspaper that their meeting with the IOPC, nine months after the attacks, began with a prayer, which he found 'patronising'.
The issue was not discussed with Mr Streeting on Monday and would require a different meeting, he told reporters.
A DHSC spokesperson said: 'Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust and NHS England have accepted all the recommendations made in both the CQC and NHS England-commissioned reviews into the care and treatment received by Valdo Calocane.
'The Health and Social Care Secretary has called for recommendations from both reviews to be implemented as soon as possible and met with the bereaved families today to discuss the NHS England-commissioned Independent Homicide Review.
'As part of this work, NHS England has developed and is actively implementing evidence-based national guidance, so that all trusts are clear on the standards of care expected for patients with serious mental illnesses.
'We remain committed to delivering the fundamental changes needed to mental health services to prevent similar tragedies from occurring in the future.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Record
an hour ago
- Daily Record
News of Scottish Government funding of £22 million to reduce NHS Lothian waiting times is welcomed
'This will allow for quicker diagnoses, more procedures, and better outcomes' An announcement of targeted funding to reduce NHS waiting times in Lothian has been welcomed by Fiona Hyslop MSP. The SNP parliamentarian for the Linlithgow constituency reacted to the Scottish Government's announcement of £22 million to help NHS Lothian to reduce waiting times, as part of a £106 million investment in NHS Scotland. The funding, from the Scottish Government, will focus on the longest waits for essential procedures and appointments and includes; £25 million for orthopaedics, £21 million for imaging services, £14 million for cancer treatment and £12 million for ophthalmology. Fiona Hyslop MSP said: 'The Scottish Government recognise that supporting our NHS is a key priority for people across West Lothian and this is clear from this £106 million funding boost to NHS services across Scotland. 'Across NHS Lothian, there will be an investment of over £22 million which will be key in reducing waiting times for essential procedures and appointments. 'By focussing funding on the areas where it is needed most such as, orthopaedics, cancer and diagnostics, delays can be tackled and this will allow for quicker diagnoses, more procedures, and better outcomes for people across West Lothian.'
Telegraph
an hour ago
- Telegraph
NHS trust and manager failed young woman who killed herself
An NHS trust and manager failed a young woman who took her own life at a mental health unit, a court found. Alice Figueiredo, 22, had made more than 10 attempts at self-harm before she died at Goodmayes Hospital in Redbridge, east London, on July 7 2015. Staff repeatedly failed to remove plastic items she had used to harm herself from the communal lavatories. After a seven month trial at the Old Bailey, the ward manager Benjamin Aninakwa, 53 was found guilty of failing to take reasonable care for the health and safety of patients. Jurors also found North East London NHS Foundation Trust (NELFT) – the trust which runs Goodmayes Hospital – guilty of 'failing to ensure the safety of a non-employee'. NELFT was cleared of corporate manslaughter – in only the second case that an NHS trust had faced the charge – and Aninakwa was found not guilty of manslaughter by gross negligence. 'You are not above the law' Ms Figueiredo's mother, Jane Figueiredo, said after the verdicts that patients would 'continue to come to serious, avoidable harm' if 'radical changes' were not made. She said: 'We truly hope the fact NELFT (North East London NHS Foundation Trust) has been through a trial of over seven months and convicted of a serious health and safety criminal offence at the Old Bailey will send a very strong message to mental health providers and their staff across this country: You are not unassailable. 'You are not above the law. You need to do far, far better to stop failing those people you have a duty of care to. 'If you don't make radical changes in your conduct and attitudes towards the people you have a responsibility to care for and keep safe, then people like Alice will continue to come to serious, avoidable harm, or senselessly lose their lives. 'This is happening with impunity, time and again, behind the locked doors of wards and in the community across the country.' Ms Figueiredo was first admitted to the hospital's Hepworth Ward in May 2012 with a diagnosis including non-specific eating disorder and bipolar affective disorder, jurors heard. During her time on the acute psychiatric ward, the trust failed to remove plastic items from the communal toilets or keep them locked, even though she repeatedly used the items to try to kill herself. She had used plastic from the toilets to self-harm on at least 10 previous occasions, but the court heard of eight more incidents involving similar materials before Ms Figueiredo took her own life. The suicide attempts were recorded in ward notes and other hospital records. Ward manager on improvement plan Jurors heard that Aninakwa, from Grays in Essex, who was subject to a performance improvement plan, had failed to remove plastic that could be used for self-harm and failed to ensure incidents of self-harm were recorded. Aninakwa and the trust had denied wrongdoing but declined to give evidence. As she paid tribute to her daughter after the trial, Jane Figueiredo said,: 'Alice's light and life shone so brightly, and everyone who knew and loved her has lived the last decade devastated by the immeasurable loss of her luminous, kind, thoughtful, generous, warm, humorous and deeply loving presence, always feeling her absence at every occasion and in our everyday lives, nothing, including these verdicts, will ever bring her back to us, and we will never stop thinking of her and missing her.' Detective Inspector Jonathan Potter, who led the investigation into Ms Figueiredo's case, said: 'This was a complex investigation led by the Metropolitan Police Service, into a unique case that has led to the conviction of the Trust and Benjamin Aninakwa for health and safety offences. 'While there are thousands of NHS workers that do a commendable job every day, today's result must also ensure that lessons are learnt to stop the same mistakes happening again.' Priya Singh, a partner at Hodge Jones and Allen advised that Ms Figueiredo's case now be included as a core participant in the Lampard Inquiry – a statutory investigation into deaths of more than 2,000 people at NHS-run inpatient units in Essex between 2000 and 2023. Ms Singh added: 'The outcome of the trial will be of disappointment to many families failed by mental health services and we can only hope that this trial will lead to a great deal of reflection on the part of those involved to ensure that cases like this do not reappear.'
South Wales Argus
2 hours ago
- South Wales Argus
Nottingham attack families ask Streeting for names of staff who treated killer
A February report into the care received by Calocane detailed how he was not forced to have long-lasting antipsychotic medication because he did not like needles, and how other patients at Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust also went on to commit 'extremely serious' acts of violence. The relatives of 19-year-old students Grace O'Malley-Kumar and Barnaby Webber, and 65-year-old caretaker Ian Coates, met with Wes Streeting on Monday and asked for those responsible to be held accountable. After the meeting, Dr Sanjoy Kumar, Grace's father, said: 'It was the actions of a few people that put a dangerous man out in the community'. Left to right, Ian Coates, Barnaby Webber and Grace O'Malley-Kumar (Nottinghamshire Police/PA) Calocane, who had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, killed three people and attempted to kill three more in Nottingham in June 2023. He was sentenced to an indefinite hospital order in January 2024 after admitting manslaughter by diminished responsibility and attempted murder. Calocane was admitted to hospital and sectioned under the Mental Health Act four times between 2020 and 2022 because of his violent behaviour and refusal to take his medication, before NHS services lost track of him and discharged him in the months before the attacks. Three reports: including one by the Care Quality Commission (CQC); described failings in his care but none included practitioners' names, Dr Kumar said with copies of the documents in-hand. Speaking outside the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC), he told reporters: 'We'd like to know who was involved in the care of this person who committed all this harm. Why aren't there any names? 'He was sectioned four times – was it four different consultants? Was it one consultant? Who were the teams who didn't do their jobs?' He said: 'I think we deserve to know the detail – everyone in the country who has suffered the way we have through mental health-related homicide deserves to have the detail. 'When an operation goes wrong, someone gets named.' Dr Kumar added: 'We want people to just know, if they did wrong, what is it they need to do to be put right? Whether it's retraining, whether it's … doing the professional development again. 'The point is that you just can't have people who are providing a risky service even now.' Valdo Calocane (Nottinghamshire Police/PA) He added that the Health Secretary was 'very much on our side, he very much wants to see a way through' and that Mr Streeting has promised 'he's going to work hard at it'. Prior to the meeting, the families said in a statement that their correspondence with the mental health trust's chief executive, Ifti Majid, had been 'light on detail, vague, evasive, defensive and contradictory'. They added that he failed to answer Dr Kumar's questions. Dr Kumar said he has given Mr Streeting the questions he put to the chief executive. He said the Health Secretary 'has promised to do his best to get us all the answers', adding that he has confidence in Mr Streeting because he has 'taken a personal interest in this case' and likewise 'wants to end homicide by mental health'. Their meeting also follows a complaint lodged with the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) by the families regarding an 'offensive' encounter with one of the watchdog's regional directors. Dr Kumar told The Sunday Times newspaper that their meeting with the IOPC, nine months after the attacks, began with a prayer, which he found 'patronising'. The issue was not discussed with Mr Streeting on Monday and would require a different meeting, he told reporters. A DHSC spokesperson said: 'Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust and NHS England have accepted all the recommendations made in both the CQC and NHS England-commissioned reviews into the care and treatment received by Valdo Calocane. 'The Health and Social Care Secretary has called for recommendations from both reviews to be implemented as soon as possible and met with the bereaved families today to discuss the NHS England-commissioned Independent Homicide Review. 'As part of this work, NHS England has developed and is actively implementing evidence-based national guidance, so that all trusts are clear on the standards of care expected for patients with serious mental illnesses. 'We remain committed to delivering the fundamental changes needed to mental health services to prevent similar tragedies from occurring in the future.'
