Health, News

Lack of accountability over ‘significant’ number of suicides at troubled NHS trust, councillor says

By Joe Locker, Local Democracy Reporter

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A Nottingham councillor believes an NHS trust has shown a lack of accountability after new figures revealed more than 200 people under its care died by suicide over the last seven years.

Figures published in response to a Freedom of Information request in November show there have been 211 ‘self-inflicted’ deaths of people under the care of the Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust since 2018.

This includes 11 inpatients being cared for by the trust at inpatient settings.

Cllr Georgia Power (Lab), who chairs Nottingham City Council’s Health Scrutiny Committee, said the number of deaths was “significant”.

“That is only the tip of the iceberg,” she told the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

“We know in Nottingham there is a significant issue with people not being able to access care, so [this figure] won’t include people that are not under their care that have tried to get help.

“There were 11 people who died in the trust’s hospitals, which are supposed to be a place of safety – but it was not safe for them.

“There has never really been any accountability for it. I don’t mean accountability in that someone individually should be held to account, but the system.

“They have never spoken about anything like this and what they are going to do to make sure it doesn’t keep happening.”

Cllr Power has been chairing meetings – during which NHS trusts and other health bodies are scrutinised – for a number of years.

She said she had been left wondering why the deaths had not been featured in any of the trust’s board papers.

The trust told the LDRS it had recently started to include details on such deaths in its ‘Learning from Deaths Quarterly Report’, which was introduced to board papers in the second quarter of last year.

“What the figures don’t show, and I will ask this when they come in the summer.  What were the lessons learned from those deaths?” Cllr Power added.

“I am sure there are people where [the trust] couldn’t have done any more, but there will be people who have asked for help and didn’t get it.

“What learning has been done? You’d hope it has been done internally, but there has been no accountability and no way of knowing what they have learned from it.

“These are just numbers. They don’t tell you anything behind it. Where is the learning, what patterns have they noticed?”

Responding to the concerns, the trust said it is currently enacting an improvement programme to improve patient safety and care.

Ifti Majid, chief executive of the trust, said: “Any loss of life is a tragedy and on behalf of the Trust, I once again extend our condolences to all those impacted. 

“We cannot comment on individual cases due to patient confidentiality, but in the case of any serious incident we will identify any areas for learning and where improvements can be made.

“Patient safety is our priority and we are currently completing a comprehensive integrated improvement programme at the Trust to further improve our care and safety for patients and our local communities.”

The LDRS also asked the trust what learning had been done relating to the deaths, and if any patterns had been identified.

A spokesperson said its improvement plan includes reviews and changes to family involvement in patient care, risk assessment, safety and crisis planning, communication with other agencies, care planning, physical healthcare, patient observations on wards, seclusion practices, medicines management and the management of ingested items.

The trust will soon be at the centre of a judge-led public inquiry, ordered by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, looking into the June 2023 attacks in Nottingham.

Barnaby Webber, Grace O’Malley-Kumar, both 19, and Ian Coates, 65, were fatally stabbed by Valdo Calocane – who had been cared for by the trust -during the incident on June 13.

Calocane, who was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, was sentenced to a hospital order in January 2024, having pleaded guilty to three counts of manslaughter on the basis of diminished responsibility.

The inquiry will follow three separate reports looking into Calocane’s treatment and care.

The most recent independent homicide review, which looked into the NHS treatment given to Calocane prior to the killings and was published on February 5 this year, found “a catalogue of failings”.

The public inquiry date is expected to be announced “in due course”.