Nottinghamshire County Council considering new providers for public health contract after NHS trust’s failings in killer’s Valdo Calocane’s care
A £15m-a-year Nottinghamshire public health contract could be handed to a new company amid scrutiny of an NHS trust.
The Healthy Families programme is currently run by Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust on behalf of Nottinghamshire County Council.
The trust has faced questions over its care of mental health patients after the conviction of Valdo Calocane for killing three people in Nottingham.
Councillors have been debating what should be done with the contract, which is responsible for giving young people the best start in life, after it expires in September 2025.
Options have been drawn up, including giving it to a new provider, bringing services in-house or splitting it between different providers.
Members of the Adult Social Care and Public Health Committee warned against breaking the contract into pieces at a meeting on Monday (September 9).
Scott Carlton, the cabinet member for communities and public health, said: “My preferred option is to keep it as single integrated service, so there are no cracks for people to fall through.”
He admitted “time is not on our side”, and a decision needed to be made quickly.
He invited feedback before he makes the final decision at a later date.
The Healthy Families service aims to provide early health intervention for pregnant women, babies and children, working with a range of other health providers.
Steve Carr said: “It’s always been risk in splitting age groups between different providers — you lose continuity as a child ages.
“A single tender from age zero to 19 would be the best thing, but it might be difficult.”
Kate Foale added: “We’ve got to give residents the best — if that means moving organisations, that’s what we have to do.
“I’m very concerned about the trust given what’s happened over last 18 months — if we go in that direction, there must be safeguards given the serious failings.”
Market testing will begin later this month to see which providers may be interested.
Dr John Doddy described bringing the services in-house as “the Holy Grail”, but said time may not allow it.
Watchdog the Care Quality Commission undertook a rapid review of the trust after Valdo Calocane fatally stabbed students Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar, and school caretaker Ian Coates in 2023.
Calocane had been under the trust’s care for two years, and he first came into contact with its mental health services in May 2020.
The commission’s inspection criticised access to mental health care under the trust, with high demand, long waiting lists, lack of inpatient beds and difficulty accessing crisis care.
The trust said it was ‘truly sorry’ after the findings, and said it was working hard to improve.
In March, chief executive Ifti Majid said: “We are committed to providing high quality, effective and safe care to those people who need it most, and that is why this report makes difficult reading because it is clear that sometimes we have let down patients and their families and for this, we are truly sorry.”
