NHS trust that cared for Nottingham attacks killer told to abandon 'culture of denial'

The Nottinghamshire Healthcare Foundation Trust's boss has offered an apology to families of the Nottingham attacks victims

An NHS trust has been told it must abandon an "organisational culture of denial" in order to prove it has changed following a catalogue of failings. A Nottingham City Council meeting on Thursday (September 19) heard from the boss of the scandal-hit Nottinghamshire Healthcare Foundation Trust (NHFT).

For a period of around two years, NHFT had cared for the Nottingham attacks killer Valdo Calocane. The boss of the trust has refused interviews ever since a damning review found issues including a "series of errors, omissions, and misjudgements" in Calocane's care.

The city council meeting heard an update on the trust's improvements following the damning findings of an inspection by the Care Quality Commission. The commission carried out a series of unannounced inspections of NHFT's mental healthcare provision across the second half of 2023, after hearing of serious concerns on care quality and safety.

The inspections followed the Nottingham attacks carried out by Valdo Calocane, who fatally stabbed Barnaby Webber, Grace O'Malley-Kumar and Ian Coates in June 2023. The commission published its reports in January and March this year, with NHFT's overall rating dropping from 'requires improvement' to 'inadequate'. It found poor access to mental health care, high demand, long waiting lists, lack of inpatient beds and difficulty accessing crisis care.

NHFT's Chief Executive, Ifti Majid, has consistently refused interviews since the publication of the CQC's findings. The BBC reports that at the trust's annual meeting at Rampton Hospital on Friday (September 20), the chief executive offered an apology to the families of the Nottingham attacks victims.

At Thursday's meeting, Councillor Georgia Power questioned how NHFT has shown to Nottingham people that they have understood previous inspection findings. Diana Hull, Chief Nurse at NHFT, said: "The lack of defensiveness, the genuineness around the impact of what the lack of improvement has had on the community we serve.

"We are talking to more and more people, not just people who want to tell us a good thing. We are meeting with people where things have gone wrong, really listening and using that information to improve."

Jan Sensier, Executive Director of Partnerships and Strategy at NHFT, said: "This organisation was pretty insular, thinking that we knew best and I think we are [now] much more humble and more open to hearing from our patients, communities and others who offer expertise."

However some councillors still had reservations about some areas of progress. Councillor Sajid Mohammed said: "I think it's very important that we get clarification and assurance that you have understood issues of how you got here." He added that the "organisational culture of denial" within NHFT needs to change to allow openness, complaints, whistle blowing and better communication and proof of that change.

Mr Majid said that he did not believe trust improvements only started after June 2023, saying: "It's come about, historically, by not listening to scrutiny, not listening to feedback at the CQC. If I look back five years, you can see that things changed in response to feedback but it didn't change sustainably."