Mental health nurse admits errors in records of man who killed three in Nottingham
A mental health nurse has admitted to a public inquiry that she made errors in the records of a mentally ill man who later killed three people in Nottingham.
Valdo Calocane, diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, stabbed to death Barnaby Webber, Grace O'Malley-Kumar, and Ian Coates on 13 June 2023.
He also attempted to kill three others during the attacks.
Calocane had been under the care of Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (NHFT) from 2020 but was discharged nine months before the attacks due to a lack of engagement.
The inquiry heard that Calocane first presented with symptoms of psychosis in May 2020 after breaking into a neighbour's flat in Radford, Nottingham.
Between May 2020 and February 2022, Calocane underwent six Mental Health Act assessments resulting in four hospital admissions.
His first admission to Highbury Hospital psychiatric ward was from 25 May to 17 June 2020, following the incident where a neighbour fled and fell from a window, fracturing her spine.
Calocane was readmitted to the same ward from 14 July to 31 July 2020 after attempting to force entry to another neighbour's flat.
During this period, mental health nurse Busayo Ajewole, a clinical team leader at Highbury, updated risk assessment forms but admitted at the inquiry that her notes contained errors.
Ajewole acknowledged that she recorded Calocane as having "no past history of mental health difficulties" and "no past history of violence and aggression," which was incorrect.
Counsel to the inquiry, Julian Blake, highlighted these inaccuracies, to which Ajewole responded that it was an error and the records should have reflected Calocane's history of violence and aggression.
The inquiry also revealed that some entries in the records, such as describing Calocane as "usually a very polite and gentle, personable young man," could not be traced to any source by Ajewole.
#mentalhealth #publicinquiry #Nottingham #paranoidschizophrenia #riskassessment #NHS
