The inquiry heard Calocane – referred to throughout the inquiry as VC – was initially taken to the Queen’s Medical Centre, as per the police force’s standard practice, due to having used a Taser on him after the attack on Pritchard.
He was then taken to Highbury Hospital, where an assessment was carried out by mental health professionals.
Ellis told the inquiry that when she asked a doctor who carried out the assessment for information about Calocane’s mental health, he offered only to give her a statement consisting of what he saw during the assault on Pritchard but was “reluctant to give me any details on what a diagnosis was for VC or how the plan was going to go forwards”.
She said those were things that would be needed to be considered by the Crown Prosecution Service.
“He was reluctant to give me those details basically citing doctor-patient confidentiality,” Ellis said.
She added she found the getting information from mental healthcare providers “really difficult”.
Wakefield, in her evidence, spoke about the difficulties of attending mental health related incidents.
She said: “We go to so many mental health jobs and essentially whilst we do have training on it when we join the job, we are fighting a losing battle essentially.”
Wakefield added: “People go to university for years to study mental health. As a police officer, we go to these jobs on our own sometimes with a day’s training.”
The officer said she found herself attending more jobs where “it is not a police officer who is needed it’s a mental health specialist”.
She added: “We just do our best essentially.”
The inquiry continues.