NHS dismisses four more staff over Nottingham stabbing victim records

Four additional NHS workers have been dismissed for accessing the medical records of victims of the Nottingham stabbing attacks without authorisation, bringing the total number of sackings to 15.

Students Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar, along with grandfather Ian Coates, were stabbed to death by paranoid schizophrenic Valdo Calocane on June 13, 2023. Three other people survived the attack.

The breach came to light in 2025, when it was discovered that employees at Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) NHS Trust had viewed the victims’ records “without a legitimate reason”.

NUH said on Thursday that 11 members of staff had been dismissed after investigations launched shortly after the unauthorised access was uncovered.

In an update issued on Friday, the trust confirmed that four more employees had been fired. It also said 15 staff had received final written warnings and two had been given first written warnings.

NUH’s medical director apologised for “the actions of these staff members” and said he hoped the dismissals would “send a really clear message”.

The findings emerged as a public inquiry into the Nottingham attacks continues, just days after a similar breach involving victims of the Southport attack was reported.

A separate investigation is also examining whether NHS ambulance staff accessed or tried to access the medical records of a man who was mauled to death by a tiger at a zoo in Yorkshire.

Emma Webber, whose 19-year-old son Barnaby was killed, described the breach as “shocking” and claimed that as many as 150 employees had accessed the records.

NUH said further inquiries were continuing into access to the medical files of three people who survived the attack.

Wayne Birkett, Sharon Miller and Marcin Gawronski were all injured by Calocane during the assault.

The staff investigated came from departments across the trust and included doctors, nurses, other medical professionals, administrative workers and clerical colleagues.

Ms Webber said: “To learn that 11 staff have been dismissed and 14 faced disciplinary actions is shocking.

“What is more shocking is the scale of misconduct – 150 members of staff accessed the records.

“The process is not yet complete so we anticipate these numbers to escalate considerably.

“The trust is also aware that we do not accept their findings that 48 members of staff had legitimate access. The number is far too high.

“The rationale given for legitimacy does not stack up and we are formally challenging this in order to scrutinise properly.

“It’s heartbreaking that on top of our tragic loss, we’ve also had to face such appalling additional failures by members of staff who should know better.

“I’d ask them all to consider how they would feel if it was their child or father.”

Medical director at NUH, Dr Manjeet Shehmar said: ‘There is simply no excuse for accessing the records of a patient without a legitimate reason, and I hope this sends a really clear message – we will investigate and we will take action.

‘To lose a loved one in the way that the families of Ian, Grace and Barnaby have is heartbreaking enough. 

‘I am so sorry that they have had this further compounded by the actions of these staff members.’

Nadia Whittome, Labour MP for Nottingham East, welcomed news that disciplinary action has been taken when it was first reported that 11 NHS workers had been fired. 

‘These were cruel, selfish actions that showed a complete disregard for the privacy of the victims and the harm that this would cause to their loved ones,’ she said.

‘It is vital that NUH (Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust) takes action to protect patient records from this kind of misuse and that all staff understand that looking up a patient’s records without proper, lawful justification is a serious violation.’

The Trust said it had contacted the families of Barnaby, Grace and Ian with the findings of the investigation.

Both Nottinghamshire Police and the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) have been made aware of the outcomes, while the General Medical Council and Nursing and Midwifery Council are also expected to now look into the matter.

An inquiry into the triple killings heard that a similar incident could happen again tomorrow as there is a ‘lack of consequences’ for police and mental health service failures, experts warned.

They said a series of ‘red flags’ about Calocane’s behaviour were missed in the months prior to the fatal stabbings.

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Calocane was sectioned four times between 2020 and 2022, and he once took a hammer into a hospital ward. This was ‘missed as an incident’ before he was eventually discharged nine months before the attacks.

There had also been a failure to arrest Calocane over an alleged assault at a warehouse.

David Spencer, head of crime and justice at the Policy Exchange, called for police and NHS bosses to be held accountable for the attack.

He said the three victims were ‘visited by evil’, adding: ‘There was a complete failure of leadership at so many different levels and there is almost a lack of consequences for that failure.’

Meanwhile, former Old Bailey judge Wendy Joseph, KC, asked: ‘How could police not have seen it coming? There was a clear link between mental illness, refusal to have treatment, violence against the police, a route that would take him before the courts.

‘And then nothing [happened]. If the bereaved are angry, if we are all, there’s a good reason for it.’

On Thursday, it was revealed that three nurses have been referred to the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) over the incident.

The Trust’s chief nurse Diane Hull, who took up the post a month after the June 2023 attacks, answered questions from counsel to the inquiry, Rachel Langdale KC.

After being asked about disciplinary processes within the Trust in relation to the case, Ms Hull said: ‘Three people have been referred to the NMC. We regularly consult with the NMC.

‘We’ve also committed… to do a further review of professional standards and practice following the inquiry as well.’

Ms Hull said she did not recall what she had said at a meeting with colleagues which included a discussion around predictability and preventability.

‘I don’t remember those exact words,’ she told the inquiry. I don’t think I could say that the terrible events of June the 13th could have been prevented.

‘But what I can say, with absolute clarity, is that we failed to exhaust all of the options and all of the interventions available to us.

‘And given the kind of things we’ve heard, particularly through the inquiry, it does lead me to think that had we at different points during his care and our contacts… had we and others taken different action it might have impacted the outcome.’

It comes just one day after it emerged that staff at the Yorkshire Ambulance Service Trust had accessed or tried to access the medical records of 24-year-old William Chapman, who died after jumping into a tiger enclosure at Yorkshire Wildlife Park. 

The trust said it had identified two instances of staff trying to view medical information about Chapman and launched a probe into the ‘information governance concern’. 

It said Mr Chapman’s family has been informed, and the matter has been reported to the Information Commissioner’s Office.

In a statement, a spokesman for the trust said: ‘First and foremost, our thoughts are with William Chapman’s family at this distressing time.

‘The Trust has identified an information governance concern in relation to this tragic incident at Yorkshire Wildlife Park and William’s family has been informed of our ongoing investigation into this.

‘We believe there may have been two instances involving two members of staff accessing or attempting to access incident/medical information following this incident without a legitimate reason to do so.

‘We take the confidentiality and security of patient information extremely seriously and have robust systems in place to protect information, and this concern has been identified as a result of our proactive audits.’

Mr Chapman was killed after climbing into the pen on Saturday afternoon, where he was attacked by one of the park’s two rare Amur tigers, a 200kg-male named Altai.

The former child star, who was classed as vulnerable with a history of ‘significant’ mental health problems, was declared dead at the scene, with his family raising concerns over the treatment he had received prior to his death.

The park had remained closed since the incident but reopened to visitors on Friday morning.

It is far from the first time NHS staff have been investigated for allegedly snooping on records without a legitimate purpose.

Just last month, ten staff members were removed from duty at East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust after being suspected of accessing the records of Noah Woods.

Noah, three, was found dead in a lake by police divers on September 16 after he disappeared in the village of Brantham, Suffolk, the day before.

The trust launched an urgent investigation and deputy chief medical officer Dr Martin Mansfield apologised ‘unreservedly’ to Noah’s family, labelling the unauthorised access ‘completely unacceptable’.

And more than 50 members of NHS staff have been sanctioned over accessing records of the victims in the Southport and Nottingham attacks.