Support truly
independent journalism
One third of NHS psychosis services of the type which treated Nottingham triple killer Valdo Calocane are not meeting national standards, The Independent can reveal.
On Tuesday, a damning report by the Care Quality Commission exposed failures by Nottinghamshire Healthcare Foundation Trust to deal with the risks Valdo Calocane presented before he killed three people.
Health minister Wes Streeting said Barnaby Webber, Grace O’Malley-Kumar and Ian Coates “might still be alive” today if “the NHS had been there when it should have been”.
He added the deaths at the hands of killer Valdo Calocane in June last year “could have been prevented and should have been prevented”.
He also said the Prime Minister is “actively considering” how best to set up a judge-led inquiry into the case.
The families of Calocane’s victims have said the CQC report “demonstrates gross, systematic failures” and also accused services caring for him in the lead-up to the attacks as having “blood on their hands”.
Mr Streeting said he “totally understands” the accusation.
“The hard truth here – which is, I think, hard for the whole country to hear, let alone me – is that had the NHS done its job, had there not been multiple fundamental failures, three innocent people might still be alive,” he added.
“That’s why I totally understand why they’ve accused the NHS of having blood on its hands.”
According to reports on Tuesday by BBC Panorama, Calocane was under the care of Nottinghamshire Healthcare’s early intervention in psychosis services when he was incorrectly discharged back to his GP for management in September 2022.
Reports revealed doctors had raised the possibility he could kill someone three years before he attacked Barnaby Webber, Grace O’Malley-Kumar and Ian Coates.
Early intervention in psychosis services are run by trusts across the country and are aimed at treating the most acutely unwell patients who experience their first episode of psychosis.
National data analysed by The Independent reveals one third of EIP services are failing to meet standards set by the UK’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.
Previous targets set for the NHS required at least 95 per cent of services by 2022-23 to be meeting the highest level of standards set by NICE – level three.
However, just 63 per cent of services in England met this standard at the end of 2023-24.
NICE sets standards for the level and type of care which should be offered by EIP services and not meeting level three means medics are not providing the expected range of care.
Last year The Independent revealed watchdog the Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch launched a national investigation into EIP services after a 56 year old women was not referred to her local psychosis service because clinicians incorrectly believed she was too old.
In April this publication also revealed 15,000 patients died in the care of mental health trust community teams in a single year.
Mark Winstanley, Chief Executive of Rethink Mental Illness, said: “People have told us that the Early Intervention in Psychosis service is a model that works and that the support it provides can be life-changing, and we need to ensure that it is able to deliver high-quality care as quickly as possible to everyone who needs it.
“A first episode of psychosis can be a terrifying and isolating experience, during which someone can rapidly decline into a serious mental health crisis, and the sooner someone receives treatment the better. Services must be better resourced to meet demand, ensuring targets are consistently met and that care remains of a high standard, just as we’d expect with treatment for a serious physical health condition.”
The most recent waiting time data also shows services across England failed to meet waiting time standards of two weeks, with just 55 per cent of patients being seen within this time following referral.
NHS England and Nottingham Healthcare were approached for comment.
