There were “multiple and fundamental failures” with the NHS’s management of Nottingham killer Valdo Calocane’s mental health treatment, the health secretary has said.
Speaking after a Care Quality Commission (CQC) report found paranoid schizophrenic Calocane’s condition was downplayed by the NHS, Wes Streeting said the report’s findings were “deeply distressing”.
Calocane fatally stabbed students Grace O’Malley-Kumar and Barnaby Webber, and caretaker Ian Coates, in June 2023.
He was detained in a high security hospital in January – “very probably” for the rest of his life – after prosecutors accepted a manslaughter plea on the basis of diminished responsibility.
Mr Streeting said: “I think what’s so shocking about the Care Quality Commission’s report is that there were so many failures and fundamental failures in terms of the supervision of Valdo Calocane, the provision of medication and what happened when he wasn’t taking his medication.
“And then, shockingly, the fact he was discharged for not attending when actually non-attendance should have provoked closer supervision.”
Mr Streeting said Nottinghamshire NHS Trust, which was responsible for Calocane’s care, was shown the report’s findings ahead of its publication and “have already been acting to implement some of its findings”.
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