Mother fears son will 'become another Valdo Calocane' without mental health care
ITV News Health Correspondent Rebecca Barry and Health Producer Philip Sime investigate NHS care and treatment of people with severe mental illness
A woman whose son has paranoid schizophrenia has told ITV News she fears he will "become another Valdo Calocane" unless he gets support.
Jane, not her real name, has shared details of her decades-long struggle to get her son appropriate mental health care.
In response, Health Secretary Wes Streeting told ITV News the concerns raised in our report give him "sleepless nights" and he is looking into tightening "the supervision and control" of some mental health patients in the UK.
Jane has shown ITV News dozens of emails and letters she’s sent to doctors, mental health professionals and MPs asking for help.
In one message she wrote: "What are you going to do, wait until he's killed me?"
In an email sent to a doctor, following the attacks in Nottingham in June 2023, in which three people were killed by schizophrenic Valdo Calocane, Jane desperately pleads for more support.
“Don’t let him become another Valdo Calocane, because I'm telling you, he’s another tragedy waiting to happen. Please listen to me,” it said.
A review by the Care Quality Commission found a "series of errors, omissions and misjudgments" in Calocane’s mental health care led to him being discharged months before he fatally stabbed Barnaby Webber and Grace O'Malley-Kumar, both 19, and Ian Coates, 65.
"I've planned his funeral in my head because I think I'm going to be burying my son before I die"
Like Calocane, Jane’s son sometimes refuses to take his medication. She wants his local mental health team to intervene - for the safety of him and others.
"You ring an ambulance, they tell you to ring the police. It just goes round and round in a circle. You just don’t get any help. You just can't believe it, that they can leave someone so vulnerable in the community with no care," Jane said.
"I've planned his funeral in my head, because I think I'm going to be burying my son."
She said her son is vulnerable and has also been misusing drugs, but is seen as a "drain on resources" because he is "too complex".
A spokesperson for the NHS Trust responsible for her son’s treatment told ITV News: “We know how difficult it can be for the families of patients with serious mental health needs and substance misuse issues.
"We do everything we can to support them within the legal framework - which balances a patient’s right to autonomy with circumstances where compulsory intervention or treatment is deemed necessary.”
The vast majority of killers in the UK do not have a mental illness.
But the most recent research by the National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Safety in Mental Health (NCISH) shows 11% of people convicted of homicide in the UK were mental health patients - an average of 61 convictions a year.
Studies have found a key factor in those cases is disengagement or someone not receiving the treatment they need.
ITV News was given permission to film with an Assertive Outreach Team in Leeds, where we joined a consultant psychiatrist and nurse as they went out to treat patients with severe mental illness.
The team provides long-term care for people who find it difficult to accept support from community mental health teams.
They check patients are taking their medication and can help with other issues like housing and employment.
"We go to the patient, we don’t expect them to come to us," Consultant Psychiatrist Dr Nuwan Dissanayaka told ITV News.
"People who are living with very severe mental illness have a life that is hard for most of us to imagine.
"They might be very mistrustful or even paranoid about the world around them, they might be hearing voices, which can steer them away from getting the help they need," Dr Dissanayaka added.
Only one-third of England’s local health systems have an Assertive Outreach Team.
There are alternative models of care. But in the summer, NHS England issued guidance to Integrated Care Boards stating they have "a responsibility" to commission "a dedicated resource to provide intensive and assertive care" for those who need it.
Dr Dissanayaka said there’s a need for these "very determined" services to support people who fail to attend mental health appointments "to avoid bad things happening".
"Unfortunately," said Dr Dissanayaka, "there are cases which turn into a tragedy".
In December 2019, 12-year-old Harley Watson was killed by a car driven into a crowd of children outside Debden Park High School in Loughton in Essex.
In her first television interview, his mother Jo Spencer-Wood told ITV News he was a "lovable boy" who was her "best friend".
The car was driven by Terence Glover, a paranoid schizophrenic. In the months beforehand, Glover had repeatedly called 999 saying he "might run some school children over".
A mental health assessment to decide whether he should be detained lasted just three minutes.
Eight weeks later he killed Harley.
"I see Glover as a horrific person who took my son’s life - but he was also failed. He was very very ill and he should have been treated," Spencer-Wood told ITV News.
"It’s the same thing we hear over and over again: ‘lessons will be learnt’, but in my opinion nothing is happening, there is no real change."
"In my opinion nothing is happening, there's no real change": Jo Spencer-Wood, the mother of 12-year-old Harley Watson who was killed by paranoid schizophrenic Terence Glover in 2019, speaks to ITV News
An inquest found failings by Essex police and mental health services possibly contributed to Harley’s death. Both have apologised and say improvements have been made.
The government has promised to reform mental health laws in England and Wales to give patients improved rights.
But the families of those killed in the Nottingham attacks want patient choice to be balanced against public safety.
"There have been heinous violent crimes, assaults and murders by individuals with similar situations to ours - with families who are as shattered as we are," Emma Webber, mother of Barnaby Webber, told ITV News.
"It's not a question of if, but when, it happens next," she continued.
Dr Sanjoy Kumar, whose daughter Grace was killed by Calocane told ITV News: "Killings through mental health conditions are completely avoidable."
"It is a catastrophic shame that they are not avoided because of simple failures," he added.
NHS England has asked every local health system in England to review how they engage with people with serious mental illness, instructing them not to discharge people if they don’t attend appointments.
ITV News asked NHS England’s National Director of Mental Health, Claire Murdoch, how confident she was that there won’t be future mental health homicides as a result of failings in care.
She said: "If I said this will never happen again I doubt you would believe me, what I can say categorically is right now across the country people are working really hard to expand and grow their services."
Health Secretary Wes Streeting told ITV News there are "many things that give me sleepless nights about the state of our NHS"
The Health Secretary Wes Streeting said the issues raised by ITV News have given him "sleepless nights."
"We have seen in very tragic cases… what happens when mental health services fail.
"There are many things that give me sleepless nights about the state of our NHS and… the supervision of the most ill people in our society, mentally ill people, is one of those issues," he added.
The Health Secretary said that, as part of planned reforms to mental health laws in England and Wales, he is looking into "tightening up" the "supervision and control of patients" who pose a risk to themselves or others.
The Health Secretary also agreed to meet Jane, who shared her story with ITV News.
He said: "I would be more than willing to meet families who’ve been victims, but also those families who fear that someone they love could well become a perpetrator of violent crime because of their illness."
ITV News understands the government will "look carefully" at its planned reform of the Mental Health Act, in light of families’ concerns.
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In a statement, Claire Murdoch, NHS England’s National Mental Health Director, said: "Our thoughts remain with the families and loved ones of Barnaby Webber, Grace O'Malley-Kumar, and Ian Coates, and since the unacceptable failings in the care provided to Valdo Calocane, the NHS has instructed every local mental health system to review its policies and practices to identify – and provide appropriate services to – those living with severe mental illness who may need intensive and assertive community care.
"This includes reviewing teams delivering dedicated intensive and assertive community care as well as core community mental health services, and we have provided further guidance which instructs hospitals not to discharge people if they do not attend appointments and reiterates the importance of engaging fully with families in how best to support patients safely.
"As work to enact the CQC’s full recommendations continues, the NHS is doing everything possible to strengthen services and keep patients safe, with expert clinical teams across the country working together with the police, families and trained social care professionals to provide the best care for patients in what are very complex clinical cases."
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