Dr Tania Engel, of Cygnet Health Care, is now giving evidence.
Between 2020 and 2023, the consultant worked at Victoria House in Darlington, where Calocane was a patient in September 2021 on Albert Ward, a psychiatric intensivde care unit (PICU).
Dr Engel’s role was as a speciality doctor supporting the consultant psychiatrist, Dr Kalina Shoilekova, from whom we heard yesterday.
She explained that it’s not unusual for Cygnet to encounter barriers when trying to obtain information from NHS trusts, which was also the case after Calocane’s transfer from NHFT.
She said this was sometimes due to reluctance from the trusts to send information on confidentiality grounds, while other times, getting hold of people proved challenging.
The inquiry was told there were three rounds involving Calocane during his three-week admission at Victoria House, one of which was attended by Claudia Birtles, Calocane’s NHFT care coordinator.
The inquiry also heard that the Approved Mental Health Professional (AMHP) at NHFT was struggling to contact Albert Ward.
Dr Engel said: “It’s a PICU ward and a lot of the time the nursing staff aren’t actually in the nursing station to answer the phone.
“They are busy dealing with incidents on the ward. They’re dealing with patients, giving medication.”
We heard that Celeste Calocane also struggled to get in touch with the ward but was being kept up to date by Ms Birtles.
Cygnet’s policy states that, “where the individual has given their consent, the carer will be kept fully informed about and involved in the individual’s care”.
It’s recognised by Cygnet that that didn’t happen with Calocane.
Dr Engel said: “There were so many things happening within a very short space of time that it was probably something that was just overlooked at the time.
“We were also not aware VC’s [Valdo Calocane’s] mother tried to contact the ward. If staff were aware, we would have made an effort to contact her after hours.”
The inquiry was told that, despite Calocane’s violence prior to his admission, staff at Cygnet observed no incidents during his admission.
The proceedings were told that he was accepting treatment “because he has no choice whilst on section [under the Mental Health Act]. He stated if the section ends he would leave hospital and resume his university studies [at the University of Nottingham] and not have contact with mental health services.”
