Welsh businesses, universities and NHS organisations will be able to develop new technologies and partnerships through the Horizon Europe programme

WALES has secured more than £700,000 in European funding to support the development of new digital healthcare technologies.

The Welsh Government has joined the UNITE European Digital Health Valleys project, marking what ministers say is Wales’ first European Union grant agreement since Brexit.

The funding has been awarded through Horizon Europe, the EU’s main research and innovation programme, which the UK formally rejoined as an associated country in 2024.

Welsh businesses, universities, health boards and innovation organisations will be encouraged to work with partners across Europe to design, test and introduce new digital healthcare products and services.

The programme will focus on major challenges facing health services across Europe, including ageing populations, staff shortages and increasing pressure on frontline services.

Organisations in Wales are now being urged to begin developing potential projects and establishing international partnerships ahead of future funding opportunities.

Cabinet Minister for Enterprise, Connectivity and Energy Adam Price said the agreement would support economic growth while helping NHS Wales adopt new technologies.

He said innovation-led growth, stronger international relationships and improvements to public services were central to the Welsh Government’s economic productivity plans.

Mr Price said: “This major initiative will deliver on all those fronts, with a focus on addressing shared healthcare challenges such as the needs of ageing populations and workforce pressures by connecting industry, healthcare providers, academia and the public sector.”

UNITE brings together regions from across Europe with the aim of creating a connected digital health ecosystem.

The network will allow technology companies, healthcare providers, universities and public bodies to collaborate on the development and deployment of new systems.

As a partner region, Wales will gain access to digital health organisations and potential research partners across Europe.

Ministers believe this could help Welsh organisations compete for further research and development funding while strengthening the country’s position within the international digital health market.

Mr Price added: “As a UNITE partner region, Wales will play a central role in shaping a new digital health innovation ecosystem and gain access to a network of European digital health regions.

“This will open up new opportunities for our most innovative sector organisations to collaborate internationally and access funding.

“Crucially, this will support the adoption of innovative solutions for NHS Wales while strengthening Wales’ position in the global digital health market.”

A free webinar explaining the programme and future opportunities will be held on Thursday, September 3.

Businesses and organisations can also seek further advice through Business Wales.

Police examine care given to Valdo Calocane before he killed three people in Nottingham

THE MENTAL health trust responsible for treating Haverfordwest-raised Valdo Calocane before he killed three people in Nottingham is now the subject of a corporate manslaughter investigation.

Northumbria Police has begun examining the care and treatment provided to Calocane by Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust between 2020 and 2022.

The outside force is conducting the investigation on behalf of Nottinghamshire Police, whose own contact with Calocane before the attacks has been scrutinised during a separate public inquiry.

The trust has confirmed that it will cooperate fully with detectives.

Calocane grew up in Haverfordwest after moving to Britain with his family and attended the former Sir Thomas Picton School, now part of Haverfordwest High VC School.

He later moved to Nottingham, where he studied mechanical engineering at the University of Nottingham.

In the early hours of June 13, 2023, Calocane fatally stabbed 19-year-old students Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar as they walked home after celebrating the end of their university exams.

He then killed 65-year-old school caretaker Ian Coates before stealing his van and deliberately driving into three pedestrians, leaving them seriously injured.

Calocane pleaded guilty to three counts of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility and three counts of attempted murder.

He was sentenced in January 2024 to an indefinite hospital order and is being held at a high-security psychiatric hospital.

The decision to investigate the NHS trust represents a significant escalation in attempts to establish whether the deaths resulted not only from individual errors, but from serious organisational and management failures.

There has been no decision to prosecute the trust, and the opening of an investigation does not mean that any criminal offence has been proven.

Under corporate manslaughter legislation, prosecutors would need to establish that the way an organisation’s activities were managed caused a death and amounted to a gross breach of a duty of care.

The involvement of senior management must also have been a substantial part of the alleged breach. An organisation convicted of the offence can receive an unlimited fine, although individuals cannot be prosecuted for corporate manslaughter itself.

Repeated contact with mental health services

Calocane was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and had repeatedly come into contact with mental health professionals and the police during the three years before the attacks.

He was sectioned four times while under the care of Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust.

Despite concerns about violence, his refusal to take medication and his repeated failure to attend appointments, Calocane was eventually discharged from specialist mental health services and referred back to his GP.

A statutory public inquiry has heard that members of the Early Intervention in Psychosis team had effectively “lost” contact with him.

An independent NHS England investigation published in February 2025 identified clear failings in the care and treatment provided to Calocane.

NHS England apologised to the victims’ families and said the system, including the health service, had got the case wrong.

Mental health trusts across England were subsequently instructed to review their procedures, including policies which allowed seriously ill patients to be discharged simply because they had stopped attending appointments.

The police investigation is separate from the Nottingham Inquiry, which is being chaired by former senior judge Her Honour Deborah Taylor.

The inquiry’s main evidence hearings took place between February and June this year, during which evidence was heard about risk assessments, communication between agencies, decisions surrounding Calocane’s treatment and the failure to arrest him on an outstanding warrant.

Closing submissions are scheduled to be heard on September 8 and 9, with the inquiry’s final findings and recommendations expected in 2027.

Emma Webber, the mother of Barnaby Webber, described the corporate manslaughter investigation as the “beginning of the reckoning”.

She said the development should send shockwaves through public services and called for everyone involved to cooperate with complete candour and transparency.

Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust said: “Northumbria Police, acting on behalf of Nottinghamshire Police, have begun an investigation into matters relating to the care and treatment of Valdo Calocane.

“We know how important the independent inquiry and police investigation are for the affected families, the survivors and our local communities.

“We will, of course, be co-operating fully with Northumbria Police.”

Kelly Rees receives further 27-month sentence while already serving prison term for notorious taxi robbery

TWO women have been jailed after chasing a man through a Milford Haven home before inflicting deep wounds with knives.

Demi Oliver, aged 26, and Kelly Rees, aged 36, appeared before Swansea Crown Court for sentence following the serious attack on Warren Harper at a property in Precelly Place.

The women had originally been charged with wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, an offence under Section 18 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861.

During an earlier hearing at Swansea Crown Court, both defendants denied the more serious charge but pleaded guilty to the lesser alternative offence of inflicting grievous bodily harm.

Oliver was sentenced to 17 months’ imprisonment, while Rees received a further 27-month prison term in addition to the sentence she is already serving for a separate knife-point taxi robbery.

The court heard that Oliver and Rees had been drinking at Rees’s home in Precelly Place on July 28, 2024, when Harper joined them at the property.

Mr Ibrahim, representing Rees, said she had also been smoking crack cocaine before an altercation developed.

Both women began chasing Harper through the house, eventually forcing him to lock himself inside the downstairs bathroom.

The court heard that Harper remained behind the locked door before eventually saying: “This stops.”

When he came out, he was confronted by Oliver and Rees, who were both armed with knives.

Rees produced what was described in court as a Stanley knife and slashed Harper’s left wrist, causing an extremely deep and damaging wound.

Oliver then approached him carrying a black-handled knife and inflicted a deep laceration to his left shoulder.

Harper later told police that he felt “a deep sharp pain” during the attack.

In a desperate attempt to escape the women, he ran upstairs and entered another bathroom.

He considered jumping from the bathroom window but realised that the drop was too high.

Harper eventually managed to get downstairs and escape from the property through the front door.

Harrowing Ring doorbell footage shown to the court captured him fleeing the house covered in blood.

He ran to a friend’s home, where he was described as sweating, shaking and covered in blood.

An ambulance was called and Harper was taken to Withybush Hospital.

He required surgery to repair damage to his muscles and tendons caused by the wounds.

After seeing photographs of the injuries, Judge Huw Rees intervened to emphasise their seriousness.

“These are not just slash marks,” he said.

“These are very deep cuts, of which I can see his muscle.”

Oliver had no previous convictions

Mr Singh, representing Oliver, told the court that his client deeply regretted her actions.

He said Oliver had no previous convictions and drew attention to the fact that she had been supported in court by the two grandparents who had raised her.

Oliver, of Precelly Place, had been released on bail following the earlier plea hearing while pre-sentence reports were prepared.

The judge concluded that the seriousness of the violence meant an immediate custodial sentence was necessary.

She was sentenced to 17 months in prison, with the sentence beginning immediately.

Rees described as “seasoned offender”

Rees, who was already being held at HMP Downview, was treated differently because of her extensive record of previous offending.

Addressing her directly, Judge Rees said: “You are a seasoned offender.”

The judge noted that she was already serving a prison sentence for the notorious robbery of a Milford Haven taxi driver.

That attack took place on October 18, 2024, less than three months after the assault on Harper.

Rees and fellow defendant Ashlee Rees targeted the driver after he collected them in Milford Haven.

During the robbery, the driver was threatened with a knife and attacked with a needle before a bag containing his takings was stolen.

The driver was left fearing that he may have contracted an infection and was required to undergo blood tests following the attack.

He also suffered recurring nightmares and anxiety as a result of the ordeal.

The case attracted widespread attention in Milford Haven, with members of the community later raising money to support the driver.

Kelly Rees had admitted robbery but denied using the needle. She was convicted of that element of the offence following a trial and was sentenced to three years and nine months in prison.

For the attack on Harper, Rees received a further sentence of 27 months’ imprisonment, to be served in addition to the sentence she is already serving.