Guidance

Review into Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust: terms of reference

Published 26 March 2024

Applies to England

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Background

The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has requested the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to carry out a special review into Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, using powers under the Health and Social Care Act 2008. Section 48 of the Health and Social Care Act gives CQC the ability to explore issues that are wider than the regulations that underpin its regular inspection and assessment activity. 

This review has been commissioned in response to concerns about the safety and quality of mental health services in Nottinghamshire, including at Highbury and Rampton hospitals. It is intended to provide the families and public with some much-needed answers about the care and treatment of Valdo Calocane, and to help the trust to improve the standard of mental health care in Nottinghamshire. 

Any concerns around patient safety, quality of care or public safety will be reported by CQC, who will consider carefully the available evidence, including evidence made public during the criminal trial of Valdo Calocane.

Objectives and scope

The special review will be focused on 3 strands of activity:

  1. A rapid review of the available relevant evidence related to the care of Valdo Calocane, including available evidence made public during the criminal trial, alongside a small number of other cases (to enable benchmarking), to determine whether this evidence indicates wider patient safety concerns or systemic issues with the provision of mental health services in Nottinghamshire. This rapid review is intended to be complementary to the Independent Mental Health Homicide Review which will be conducted by NHS England over a longer timeframe and will provide more detailed scrutiny of Valdo Calocane’s interaction with mental health services.

  2. An assessment on patient safety and quality of care provided by Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, drawing on CQC’s latest inspection findings and other available intelligence. This will include CQC’s recent inspections of Rampton Hospital and acute wards for adults of working age and wards for older people with mental health problems at the trust. CQC will also assess care for patients in the community who are presenting with risk to public safety, and the extent to which there is sufficient oversight from the provider. This will consider the trust’s discharge processes and approaches, including assessment of patient risk and engagement and working with other local partners.

  3. An assessment of progress made at Rampton Hospital since the most recent CQC inspection activity to offer an up-to-date assessment of care provided at the hospital.

Engagement

Throughout the review CQC will continue to engage the families affected by this work, and will draw upon the experience of the NHS, people using services, and other key stakeholders they may identify during the review.

Governance and timing

The special review will be led by CQC.

CQC will report to the Secretary of State in March, with strands 2 and 3 of the review published in March, and strand 1 of the review published by June 2024.

The government will then carefully consider the findings and respond in due course.

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