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Found 264 results
  1. News Article
    The victims of the 2023 Nottingham attack were failed by “every single agency”, their families have said as they call on the government to act on failings exposed in a public inquiry. Emma Webber, the mother of student Barnaby Webber, who was stabbed to death by Valdo Calocane, told a press conference on Monday: “A monster was left at large in the shadows to stalk his prey. For months, we’ve sat through the statutory public inquiry and watched the evidence unfold. “It has been brutal, bruising, and harrowing beyond measure, but it was so very necessary. Just look at what it has uncovered. Every single agency failed. Every single one. Without exception. “Mental health services fail to treat and manage. Police repeatedly failed to act. Agencies didn’t talk. Individuals chose to look the other way. Warnings were ignored. People chose not to care or be curious. And the fear of stigma and bias was placed above safety and duty. And when it went wrong, too many closed ranks. Instead of owning their mistakes.” Failings by both the NHS and police have been exposed throughout the hearings, including the fact that months before the killings, Calocane was discharged by Nottinghamshire Healthcare Foundation Trust’s Early Intervention in Psychosis (EIP) service because he failed to turn up for appointments, and the team had “lost” him. Calocane had been sectioned four times while under the care of Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (NHFT), before he was discharged to his GP in 2022. Read full story Source: The Independent, 8 June 2026
  2. News Article
    Nurses and midwives who should have been banned from treating patients have practised over the last 12 years because of “potentially dangerous” failings by a medical regulator. The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) has admitted that its “completely and utterly unacceptable” mistakes meant it failed to protect the public from about 15 professionals whom it should have banned from ever working in healthcare in the UK because they had broken the law. The nurses and midwives told the NMC about their criminal convictions when they applied to join or stay on the regulator’s register, which they need to be on in order to practise in Britain. However, NMC staff who assessed their applications did not then refer them on to an assistant registrar at the regulator to investigate and decide if they could treat patients, which they should have done. The 15 or so nurses and midwives involved now face being struck off because their law-breaking is so serious that they should not be allowed to keep having contact with patients. The Patients Association warned that the NMC’s failure to properly look into the background of those concerned undermines patients’ trust that health staff are safe to care for them. The Royal College of Nursing accused the regulator of an “astounding failure of its primary purpose to safeguard the public, as well as to provide assurance to the nursing workforce that they and their colleagues had all undergone the necessary checks to practise”. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 27 May 2026
  3. Content Article
    During the period March 2007 to June 2011 there were six homicides committed by service users who had received care and treatment from South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust. External investigations have been carried out for all six cases three by The Health and Social Care Advisory Service (HASCAS) and three by Verita. Verita were also commissioned to consider any thematic similarities between the six cases.
  4. News Article
    A large-scale criminal network supplying illegal steroids and prescription-only medication worth £1.8 million has been uncovered by the medicines watchdog, leading to seven men being sentenced. The investigation by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency’s (MHRA) Criminal Enforcement Unit discovered more than 130,000 doses of steroids and unauthorised medicines, including products such as tamoxifen, finasteride and modafinil. The illegal supply was traced after a website linked to the Bolton area was suspected of selling performance-enhancing steroids and other illegal medicines by the UK Anti-Doping (UKAD). MHRA investigators traced the activity to a flat above commercial premises on St Helens Road in Bolton, which was being used to store, package, and distribute the drugs. Seven men were charged with offences including conspiracy to supply controlled drugs, supplying unauthorised medicines, and money laundering to the value of over £1.8 million and received combined sentences totalling more than 21 years’ imprisonment. “This was a well-organised operation that put people at real risk. Medicines bought outside regulated channels can be unsafe, ineffective or fake,” Tim Duffield, MHRA Head of Intelligence said. Read full story Source: The Independent, 30 April 2026
  5. News Article
    A mental health trust discharged a patient without reviewing his risk level, a month before he went on to stab a man. Kent and Medway Mental Health Trust then carried out a “flawed” internal investigation, according to a Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman report published today. It comes amid ongoing response to the killing of three people in Nottingham by Valdo Calocane in 2023, who had also been in the care of mental health teams. The public inquiry about this incident is ongoing. Providers have been asked to review their services, and there are concerns about a lack of capacity. In the Kent and Medway case, the PHSO said the trust should compensate the patient’s mother, because caring for her 31-year-old son left her with lasting trauma. The man – who has not been named – was diagnosed with schizophrenia after the attack. He had been detained in hospital but was discharged in June 2020 to a community mental health team, who were responsible for assessing his risk and providing care. He was discharged by the trust in October 2020, without having had a face-to-face appointment since June, and without a risk assessment or care plan in place. The following month, he stabbed a man, who survived, and was later convicted and detained in a medium secure unit under the Mental Health Act. PHSO chief executive Rebecca Hilsenrath said: “It highlights the stark consequences of poor mental health care, not just for patients, but also for their families, carers and even strangers.” She said the patient’s mother endured a “frightening and distressing situation” for more than a year while her requests for help went largely unanswered, leaving her fearing for her safety. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 30 April 2026
  6. Content Article
    A knife attack might have been prevented if the perpetrator had received better mental health care, an investigation by England’s Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) has found.  In November 2020, a 31-year-old man stabbed a man in his thirties, just one month after being discharged from the care of Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust, now called Kent and Medway Mental Health NHS Trust. He was arrested and later detained under the Mental Health Act. After the attack he was diagnosed with schizophrenia.   The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) found a series of failings by the Trust in the 12 months leading up to the stabbing. These included poor care planning and discharging the patient without reviewing his risk level.  The Ombudsman concluded that these failings might have contributed to the man’s mental health decline. Had he received safe and appropriate care, the stabbing might not have occurred.  PHSO has repeatedly raised concerns about systemic failings in mental health services. In 2024, the Ombudsman published a report highlighting failures in transferring people with mental health conditions out of services. The report found failures in planning, communication, and continuity of care, and called for services to be more holistic, joined up, and person-centred. 
  7. Content Article
    This guidance sets out the relevant principles of good practice if you are involved in any criminal or regulatory proceedings, and want to know whether you should report this to the General Medical Council. 
  8. News Article
    Illegal weight-loss medication has been seized from a farm and home in Lincolnshire suspected of being involved in a criminal network making and selling fake jabs. Almost 2,000 doses of the dangerous “skinny jabs” were seized in two raids by officers from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and Lincolnshire Police. Manufacturing equipment, suspected pharmaceutical ingredients, packaging and commercial vehicles were also found in the raids. The street value of the finished weight-loss products alone was estimated to be more than £250,000. The raids were in response to reports of people “becoming unwell” or finding the products were “ineffective” after using the unregulated drugs, Lincolnshire Police said. Health officials warned the unlicensed products are potentially deadly and are often made with “no regard for safety, sterility, or quality”. Dr Zubir Ahmed, health innovation and patient safety minister, said: “We will not allow criminals to profit by exploiting people looking for help with their weight. “Do not buy weight-loss medicines from unregulated sources. Safe, effective, licensed treatments can make a real difference for those who need them – but they must come from a registered pharmacy, with a valid prescription.” Read full story Source: The Independent, 2 March 2026
  9. News Article
    A mental health charity that receives £206m a year to care for NHS patients is facing two police probes after the death of a patient and alleged assault of another, The Independent can reveal. The privately run St Andrew's Hospital, Northampton, which provides more than 400 inpatient beds for patients with brain injuries and mental health conditions such as eating disorders and psychosis, was investigated for alleged corporate manslaughter after a man died there in February 2025. Five people were arrested, but four have since been released with no further action. One person remains on bail for alleged wilful neglect by a care worker. In a separate police probe, eight care workers have been arrested on suspicion of wilful neglect and ill treatment following allegations of assault made on a patient in July 2025. The latest investigations come after another corporate manslaughter inquiry, following the death of a teenage girl at the hospital in October 2024, which led to one person being arrested. Northampton Police said the Crown Prosecution Service had since decided no further action would be taken in that case, and the person arrested had been released with no further action. A report on the incident will be prepared for the coroner ahead of an inquest. Read full story Source: The Independent, 30 January 2026
  10. News Article
    Tricia Monro places two thick folders on the table with pages of psychiatric evaluations, timelines and dozens of emails asking for help for her son. For years she had been trying to catch him as he fell through the cracks of the mental health system. She had been warned not to be alone with him, but relented when he asked to have a bath at her house in Hampshire in February last year. What she did not know was that he had just fatally stabbed her ex-husband, Peter, 73. She said she still “cannot believe” how the tragedy has torn her family apart. “I don’t for a moment excuse what he has done, and I accept that he has to be punished,” she said, adding: “It’s a very lonely place being the parent of a child whose mental health has been deteriorating.” In December Christopher “Kit” Monro, 30, of Oxford, was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum 12-year term for the murder of his father. The family believe it could have been prevented if NHS Oxford mental health services and other authorities had better heeded their pleas for help. Instead, his mother says she was left in the dark about issues concerning her own safety and felt failed by those in charge of his care. Their intervention comes as a public inquiry into the Nottingham attacks in 2023 by Valdo Calocane continues to expose severe failings in the care of dangerous psychiatric patient. A report commissioned after the murder depicts Monro’s mother as “reluctant” to become involved in her son’s care. She is appalled by that characterisation, detailing her repeated attempts to warn the NHS about Monro’s mental state. “I was anxious, and a lot of times uncomfortable, but I stepped in because there was no one else,” she said. Monro's sister Lara described attempts to blame her mother, 70, who works for a charity, as “diabolical”. She said: “There was a series of red flags raised in the lead-up to this tragedy. My brother was let down by those whose job it was to support him.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Times, 29 March 2026
  11. News Article
    More than 75 health systems sent a letter to federal officials calling for stronger oversight of nationwide data sharing networks, flagging issues with "bad actors" gaining access to patients' medical information. The health systems, including AdventHealth, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, The MetroHealth System, NYU Langone, UMass Memorial Health, Stanford Health Care and Sutter Health, are calling for more centralized oversight and governance for the nationwide health data exchange frameworks, including the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement (TEFCA) and Carequality. The letter, addressed to The Sequoia Project CEO Mariann Yeager and Steve Posnack, deputy assistant secretary for technology policy at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), calls for stepped-up safeguards for data sharing include more rigorous oversight and governance of who gets access to patients' medical information, better monitoring for fraud and more transparency into network activity. The organizations argue that self-attestation and decentralised oversight, which is the current process, is not sufficient to safeguard patient data. Health systems want more established rules of the road and stronger protections to prevent fraud on the networks. Read full story Source: Fierce Healthcare, 29 January 2026
  12. News Article
    A former manager at a now-dissolved trust has been sentenced to 30 months in prison after using his position to defraud the organisation of more than £100,000. Alec Gandy, a former senior operational manager at Dudley Integrated Health and Care Trust was sentenced along with two others at Wolverhampton Crown Court for his role in defrauding the trust of £123,090. Mr Gandy pleaded guilty to fraud by abuse of position. He filed multiple false invoices and used the money to partly fund a “gambling habit” and to fund businesses he had formed, one of which was called “Crooked Spire.” In its victim impact statement, the trust outlined how the stolen funds could have been used to pay the annual salaries of four nursing associates, two community paramedics or two clinical pharmacists. None of the money stolen has been recovered. The statement added: “Many of the staff involved in the investigation and those across the wider workforce felt personally connected to Mr Gandy, and therefore have felt a strong sense of mistrust and betrayal from his actions. In turn, the investigation itself led to months of scrutiny over the activity across the service, which could have eroded the trust between the organisation and our contractors.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 17 January 2026
  13. News Article
    The NHS and government have been accused of undercounting the number of mental health homicides, with campaigners calling for “honesty and transparency” over how many patients commit violence. Over four years there were 115 fewer homicides by mental health patients recorded in official statistics compared to information released under the Freedom of Information Act, it has emerged. The FOI request, collected by Hundred Families, a charity that supports bereaved families, asked NHS England for the number of patient homicides that had been reported to them, by region, for each of the years between 2018 and 2023. Read full article (paywalled). Source: The Times, 9 January 2026
  14. News Article
    *Warning - this story contains distressing content and references to alleged child abuse Police investigating historical child abuse at two former NHS mental health units in West Sussex say they have spoken to 12 alleged victims – and believe there are more. One former patient, aged nine at the time, says he was repeatedly sexually assaulted by a member of staff at Larchwood and Colwood in Haywards Heath. Christopher – not his real name – said the first alleged attack happened in the late 1970s after the staff member lured him outside to pick flowers for his mum. Read full story Source: BBC News, 15 December 2025
  15. News Article
    Scotland’s Patient Safety Commissioner has expressed deep concern over new figures which suggest around 1,000 sexual assaults and rapes have taken place in Scottish hospitals in the last five years. A study by the Women’s Rights Network Scotland (WRNS) found almost 300 sexual assaults and rapes were logged by police between 2019-2024, with more than half on hospital wards. But the group concluded that as only 29% of hospitals are reporting cases to Police Scotland, the true number is likely to be closer to 1,000 attacks. Read full story Source: The Sunday Post, 15 December 2025
  16. News Article
    A former resident doctor has been charged with sexually assaulting 38 patients who were in his care. The Crown Prosecution Service today announced charges against Nathaniel Spencer, 38, of Quinton, Birmingham for alleged offences at The Dudley Group Foundation Trust and the University Hospitals of North Midlands Trust. He faces 15 counts of sexual assault, 17 counts of assault by penetration, nine counts of sexual assault of a child under 13. Mr Spencer has also been charged with three counts of assault of a child under 13 by penetration, and one count of attempting to assault by penetration. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 5 December 2025
  17. News Article
    Organised crime gangs have begun manufacturing their own branded weight-loss drugs, designed to look like legitimate medicines, in what authorities warn is a significant threat. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said the trend had only just emerged, leading them to conduct the largest single seizure of trafficked weight-loss drugs ever recorded by any global law enforcement agency. Andy Morling, the head of the MHRA’s criminal enforcement unit, said that in the last few months it had seen a new model of production, “where criminals are putting investment into designing their own packaging and branding … and selling it purporting to be a genuine product”. He added: “That is an unusual model. [What they seized] looked like genuine medicines, but are entirely unlicensed and illegal to sell in the UK. The most recent model, and the level of investment to do packaging and production facilities to sell on an industrial scale – that is undoubtedly organised crime. That is why we are working to eliminate that model before it takes a grip.” Morling said a product “that sophisticated … is a significant concern” for his unit. Morling said that there was a “blurring of line in what is considered medicine and another cosmetic treatment available these days”. He said that most customers thought what they were buying in the syringes was a cosmetic treatment. Morling added: “Some of the beauty parlours are selling them in this setting not realising that they are selling medicine that could end up giving them a custodial sentence … In both customer and seller there is a lack of awareness.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 11 November 2025
  18. News Article
    A palliative care nurse in Germany has been sentenced to life in prison after he was convicted of the murder of 10 patients and the attempted murder of 27 others. Prosecutors alleged that the man, who has not been publicly named, injected his mostly elderly patients with painkillers or sedatives in an effort to ease his workload during shifts overnight. The offences were committed between December 2023 and May 2024 in a hospital in Wuerselen, in western Germany. Investigators are reported to be looking into several other suspicious cases during his career. According to media outlet Agence France-Presse (AFP), the unnamed man had been employed at the hospital in Wuerselen since 2020, after completing training as a nursing professional in 2007. Prosecutors told a court in Aachen that he showed "irritation" and a lack of empathy to patients who required a higher level of care, and accused him of playing "master of life and death". The court was told that he injected patients with large doses of morphine and midazolam, a type of sedative, in an effort to reduce his workload during night shifts. When issuing the life sentence, the court said that the man's crimes carried a "particular severity of guilt" which should bar him from early release after 15 years. Read full story Source: BBC News, 6 November 2025
  19. News Article
    Valerie Kneale was chatting away, sitting upright in her hospital bed, when her family left her behind on the ward. Hours before, the 75-year-old grandmother had been admitted to Blackpool Victoria Hospital in Lancashire in November 2018 after suffering a stroke while eating her dinner. But she appeared to have made a remarkable recovery. Her husband and two children were assured by hospital staff that they could go home and she would be looked after overnight. The next morning, Mrs Kneale’s family returned to discover that she had slipped into a coma. She died three days later. The post-mortem examination revealed that she had been sexually assaulted while on the ward, where entry was controlled by key card, with such force that it had caused severe, fatal blood loss. Lancashire Constabulary immediately started a murder investigation but seven years on, the force has stopped searching for who was responsible for attacking Mrs Kneale. Her death – and the failure to find a culprit – is but one tragedy in a hospital that appears to be out of control. A weeks-long Telegraph investigation has uncovered a litany of failures at Blackpool Victoria: Eight other deaths on the stroke ward in 2018 are being investigated, “Corrupt” nurses were jailed for drugging patients to keep them compliant, Powerful medicines went missing, A heart surgeon was imprisoned for groping the breasts and bottoms of female colleagues, Doctors shared sexist jokes in WhatsApp groups called “cardiac sluts” and “work slags”. With no one held accountable for the deaths and a police investigation into corporate failings at the stroke unit still ongoing after two years, the families of several victims told The Telegraph that only a public inquiry could answer their questions. Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Telegraph, 6 November 2025
  20. Content Article
    Around a 100 families a year will have a loved one killed by someone with mental illness. Hundred Families provides practical information for families affected by mental health homicides in Britain. Hundred Families have helped over 70 families with support, information and advocacy after killings by people with mental illness. They work with the Criminal Justice System, the Health Service and other organisations to support victims and to embed real learning in order to prevent these tragedies from happening in future. Hundred Families offer training to NHS staff on: the extent and impact of mental health homicides engaging victims with decency, openness and respect learning lessons effectively after such incidents. They advise government departments, national organisations, Members of Parliament and others on the scale of the problem and the needs of families and contribute to national consultations on criminal justice and mental health policy. They also conduct research and investigations.
  21. Content Article
    NHS England has launched this new policy and supporting assurance framework for integrated care boards and trusts to adopt and adapt, ensuring that any member of staff who has experienced inappropriate and/or harmful sexual behaviours at work is supported by their employer. It will help staff to: understand their rights and responsibilities recognise and report sexual misconduct at work get advice and support. An overview of the policy is also available. Alongside the policy is a new e-learning resource, designed to equip people working and learning in the NHS with the knowledge and skills to recognise and respond to sexual misconduct.
  22. News Article
    A German palliative care doctor has been charged with murdering 15 of his patients using a cocktail of lethal drugs. Prosecutors in Berlin have accused the 40-year-old of setting fire to the homes of some of his suspected victims to cover his tracks. He allegedly killed 12 women and three men between September 2021 and July 2024, though prosecutors have said they believe that total could rise. The doctor, who has not been named due to strict privacy laws in Germany, has not admitted to the charges, prosecutors said. He is accused of administering an anaesthetic and a muscle relaxant to his patients without their knowledge or consent. The relaxant "paralysed the respiratory muscles, leading to respiratory arrest and death within minutes", the prosecutor's office said in a statement. He worked in several German states, and the ages of those whose deaths are being treated as suspicious range from 25 to 94. The doctor was initially suspected of having killed four people in his care when he was arrested in August 2024 but investigations have uncovered other suspicious deaths, with more exhumations on potential victims planned. A "lifelong professional ban" and "preventative detention" is being sought for the 40-year-old suspect. He remains in custody. Read full story Source: BBC News, 16 April 2025
  23. News Article
    NHS mental health trusts are refusing to say how many of their patients go on to kill, saying they do not want to risk identifying offenders. Figures provided via freedom of information requests revealed that an average of 65 mentally ill people carry out homicides in England every year. However, this figure is thought to be a significant underestimate because nearly a quarter of trusts refused to give exact numbers. Julian Hendy, founder of the charity Hundred Families, which made the FoI requests, said some trusts denied the full request, claiming that the small numbers of homicides in question could lead to the identification of offenders. NHS England was recently accused of attempting to suppress details of serious failures in the treatment of Valdo Calocane, the paranoid schizophrenic responsible for the deaths of three people in Nottingham. It had intended to publish a bland 30-page summary that did not contain damning details in the case of Calocane, who fatally stabbed Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar, both 19, and Ian Coates, 65, in June 2023. NHS England reversed its decision after the plan was exposed by The Times. The full review detailed how Calocane had been discharged with no follow-up the year before the attacks — despite having been sectioned four times, possessing a history of violence, and staff being aware he was not taking his medication. Dr Sanjoy Kumar, Grace O’Malley-Kumar’s father, warned that “there is no accountability when there is no transparency”. He said that in other areas, such as maternal deaths, specific figures were published annually. “To not have this information published is a cover-up. They are covering up their failures. These are avoidable deaths.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Times, 20 March 2025
  24. News Article
    Could killer nurse Lucy Letby have been stopped sooner? She was convicted of killing seven babies and attempting to murder seven more. Now a public inquiry is examining whether bosses at the Countess of Chester Hospital failed to act fast enough when suspicions were raised. The inquiry is not examining the question of Letby’s guilt. Instead, it is exploring how she was able to kill repeatedly, hearing more than 60 days of witness evidence and reviewing thousands of emails, text messages and handwritten notes. The hurried memos from doctors about babies collapsing in Letby’s presence and curt replies from hospital execs reveal, in vivid detail, the chaos behind the scenes. Judith Moritz, who has covered the Letby case from the start, looks at the evidence to piece together how events unfolded - and why it took more than a year to stop a killer. Read full story Source: BBC News, 19 March 2025
  25. News Article
    A Houston-area midwife was arrested for providing illegal abortions, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) said Monday, marking the first criminal charges under the state’s near-total abortion ban. Maria Margarita Rojas, 49, was charged with the illegal performance of an abortion and practicing medicine without a license, Paxton’s office said in a news release. Rojas owned and operated health clinics in Waller, Cypress and Spring, Paxton’s office said. Her facilities employed unlicensed people who presented themselves as medical professionals, officials alleged. Performing an abortion in Texas is punishable by up to life in prison and up to $100,000 in civil penalties. Abortions are only permitted when a pregnant woman is at risk of death or “substantial impairment of a major bodily function.” The law targets anyone who performs or helps set up an illegal abortion, including people who facilitate the distribution of abortion pills. Women seeking abortions can’t be charged under the state’s law. “In Texas, life is sacred,” Paxton said in a statement Monday. “I will always do everything in my power to protect the unborn, defend our state’s pro-life laws, and work to ensure that unlicensed individuals endangering the lives of women by performing illegal abortions are fully prosecuted. Texas law protecting life is clear, and we will hold those who violate it accountable.” Marc Hearron, interim associate director of ligation at the Center for Reproductive Rights, an organization that aims to protect reproductive rights, condemned Paxton’s efforts to ban abortions. “While details of this case remain unclear, we know that Texas officials have been trying every which way to terrify healthcare practitioners from providing care and to trap Texans,” Hearron said in a statement. “Their ultimate goal is to end abortion access for all Texans entirely — and they will throw people in jail to get there.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: Washington Post, 18 March 2025

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