The Nottingham Inquiry concluded its seventh week of hearings, during which Alex Ruck Keene KC informed the panel that certain mental health guidance contains what he described as a significant deficiency concerning the Mental Capacity Act. The issue arises, according to Mr Keene, because clinicians frequently turn to codes of practice rather than primary legislation, as the former employs more user-friendly language. While the Mental Capacity Act’s code of practice is presently being updated, Mr Keene warned against completing this revision prior to the Nottingham Inquiry publishing its findings, stating that finalising it prematurely would mean establishing conditions for failure practically from the beginning. Valdo Calocane, who received a diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia, killed Barnaby Webber, Grace O’Malley-Kumar and Ian Coates during the early morning hours of June 13, 2023. The perpetrator subsequently attempted to murder three further people using the vehicle he had taken from Mr Coates. The Care Quality Commission received instructions from the then-Health Secretary to carry out an immediate review of Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust following Valdo Calocane’s sentencing. Calocane had been a patient under the trust’s services between May 2020 and September 2022. The first stage of the review assessed the standard of care provided at Rampton Hospital and was published in March 2024. The subsequent phase, which examined specifically Valdo Calocane’s care and treatment, appeared in August 2024. A public inquiry presided over by Her Honour Deborah Taylor has been in session since late February, examining the shortcomings that occurred both before and after Calocane’s assaults. The seventh week of proceedings concluded on Thursday (April 16) after hearing evidence from three experts in mental health and patient care.
This is a digital representation, not a photograph.
