NHS trust boss's apology to attack victims' families

Ifti Majid said he is "truly sorry" for letting down patients and families

A mental health trust involved in the care of a paranoid schizophrenic who killed three people in last year's Nottingham attacks "let down" patients and families, its chief executive said.

Valdo Calocane was handed a hospital order over the killings of Ian Coates, Grace O'Malley-Kumar and Barnaby Webber on 13 June 2023.

Calocane was under Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust's care from May 2020 to September 2022.

At the annual general meeting of the trust at Rampton Hospital in Retford on Friday, chief executive Ifti Majid said he is "truly sorry" over failings.

Ian Coates (left), Barnaby Webber and Grace O'Malley-Kumar were all killed by Valdo Calocane on 13 June 2023

It comes as a Nottingham City Council meeting was told the trust must abandon an “organisational culture of denial” in order to prove it has changed.

The trust has been at the centre of severe scrutiny following the killings.

In August, a damning report was released by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), which the victims' families said "demonstrates gross, systemic failures in the mental health trust".

Mr Majid said he had spoken to the families of the victims, adding the trust "didn’t wait for the CQC special review to conclude to begin making improvements".

"No-one should have to go through this, and I offer my heartfelt apologies for the opportunities we missed in the care and treatment of Valdo Calocane, to all of those who continue to be affected by what happened on that dreadful day," he said.

"It is clear that sometimes we have let down our patients [and] their families, and for this I am truly sorry."

Among the changes Mr Majid said have happened were every patient in community mental health services has had a risk assessment and a crisis plan, audited therapeutic observations, more nursing leaders at in-patient care, and daily safety meetings to review staffing levels.

'Openness and transparency'

On Thursday, Nottingham City Council's health and adult social care scrutiny committee met to discuss progress at the trust.

Labour councillor Sajid Mohammed said it is "very important that we get clarification and assurance" regarding the trust's understanding of the issues it faces, adding the “organisational culture of denial” needs to change.

Georgia Power, chairman of the committee, told BBC Radio Nottingham more needs to be done by the trust to reassure families affected by failings who had "just not been listened to" before the attacks.

"Since the CQC inspection [reports] have come out there seems to be sort of an acknowledgment in meetings, that things have gone wrong [and] people have been harmed, but it doesn't really seem to match the performance on the outside," she said.

"Until they start acknowledging what they've done freely, and not just because they're pressed to in a meeting, there isn't going to be that openness and transparency."

Analysis

By Rob Sissons, BBC East Midlands health correspondent

There are many big questions remaining after the Nottingham attacks, questions journalists would like to put to the trust, but they’ve refused to do interviews while they say investigations are ongoing.

NHS England has ordered a homicide review, and that’s not expected to be published until the end of this year at the earliest.

The significance of today is it’s yet another apology to the families of the three people who were killed by Calocane simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and to three other people who were seriously injured when he drove the van belonging to one of his victims at pedestrians in Nottingham city centre.

It’s the first time we’ve heard a spoken apology from the man who now leads Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, Ifti Majid, who joined after Calocane had been discharged from its care but before the attacks.

In the past there have been written apologies, but this is the first time a spoken apology has been said in front of cameras.

The trust said some big improvements have been made, but as Georgia Power’s comments show, not everyone is convinced.

Additional reporting by Hugh Casswell and Lauren Monaghan