The relatives of the individuals murdered by Valdo Calocane in Nottingham in the previous year are holding both the police and health professionals responsible following a condemning report revealing numerous screw ups by mental wellbeing services. Calocane had murdered three persons while suffering from a psychotic episode.
A highly critical report issued by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in the UK, lambasted the National Health Service’s (NHS) approach to dealing with Calocane in Nottingham. Calocane had been diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic and was compulsorily admitted four times after 2020 due to numerous violent episodes.
It surfaced from Calocane’s medical records that one psychiatrist had highlighted the possibility of him committing a murder, but Calocane was discharged to his general practitioner’s care in September 2022, despite clear signs that he was refusing his medication.
June 2023 saw an horrific spree of violence in the heart of Nottingham, with Calocane stabbing to death three individuals – Ian Coates, aged 65, and Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar, both 19 years old and students. Sinead O’Malley, an Irish doctor, is the mother of Grace. Furthermore, Calocane stole Mr Coates’s van, and employed it to run over three more individuals, inflicting severe injuries on them.
After the court accepted Calocane’s plea of manslaughter due to diminished responsibility, he was sentenced in January to be indefinitely held in a secure institution. The formal review of his treatment has now triggered a widespread commotion.
The CQC report was described as “disturbing” by the health secretary of Britain, Wes Streeting. He has directed the NHS in England not to discharge any more patients after being committed if there is evidence of non-compliance with medication regime.
Chris Dzikiti, the acting chief inspector of healthcare at the CQC, stated that between May 2020 and September 2022, the Nottingham Healthcare NHS Foundation missed countless opportunities to shield the public from Calocane. He blamed the NHS Foundation for its failed decision-making, oversights and errors in judgement.
Mr Dzikiti expressed his view that the public danger posed by Calocane was not adequately addressed, with chances to lessen this danger being overlooked. Calocane, having been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, began to hear voices. Yet, his family was kept in the dark about his condition. According to a CQC report, his refusal to take prescribed medication was downplayed by certain physicians and authorities. They had the option to legally enforce the administration of long-term injectable drugs, an opportunity which they did not act on.
Calocane’s erratic behaviour in the two years before his GP discharged him included invasions into his neighbours’ homes and acts of violence against the police and his co-residents. The loved ones of his victims have collectively demanded amendments to the law, holding institutions and individual doctors accountable for failures in providing care. The newly appointed Labour government in Britain has pledged to conduct a judicial investigation into the incident. However, a full legal public inquiry, as insisted upon by the families, has not yet been confirmed.