Ms Robinson told the inquiry that she became aware of problems with Calocane’s medication concordance “later on”.
Medication concordance is a petient-centred approach to prescribing medication, focusing on collaboration between mental health staff and the patient.
Ms Robinson said: “I was aware that this man was quite difficult to get hold of and that Claudia [Birtles], in her supervision, spoke about feeling a bit of unease around him.
“She mentioned he was a bit guarded at times and struggled to get that therapeutic relationship with.”
Ms Robinson explained that some of Calocane’s documentation “could’ve been better” when asked by Mr Carr about what went wrong in his EIP management.
She said: “He was a very difficult person to engage with. We had multiple addresses for him.
“He needed a more robust service than what EIP could offer and, in hindsight, he needed a team that could do more of that follow-up.”
She added that this was due to staff managing a significant caseload.
Mr Carr asked: “Is the reality that the EIP were ill equipped to deal with a patient of VC’s complexity and presentation?”
Ms Robinson answered yes.
When questioned about why she considered discharging Calocane despite stating he was unwell, Ms Robison explained: “We may have known he’s become unwell but we were trying to provide treatment for someone who we couldn’t get hold of.”
As a result, Calocane was becoming an assertive outreach patient, however, the assertive outreach pathway was not available to him as it had been disbanded.
Assertive outreach teams provide community-based mental health care for patients with severe psychotic illnesses, including schizophrenia, who are difficult to engage with.