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Some of the babies murdered by Lucy Letby could have been saved if hospital bosses stepped in earlier, an inquiry into the serial killer’s crimes has concluded.
There was a ‘complete failure to protect babies on the neonatal unit’ at the Countess of Chester Hospital, Lady Justice Thirlwall said.
Parents were ‘kept in the dark for years about what was happening’ by hospital executives who were more worried about protecting the hospital’s reputation, she found.
In her report published today, she said families of the babies were not aware of concerns until the nurse was arrested and they were contacted by police in July 2018.
Letby, 36, from Hereford, was convicted of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder seven others at the Countess of Chester Hospital in 2015 and 2016.
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The Thirlwall Inquiry was set up to examine how Letby was able to carry out her crimes.
It did not examine Letby’s convictions or motives but instead focused on the conduct of those working at the Countess of Chester, including the board, managers, doctors and nurses from when Letby started her employment in 2012.
Letby was moved from the neonatal unit to administrative duties in July 2016 after consultants expressed concerns about her to the hospital’s executive team.
Hospital bosses opted to carry out several reviews into the increased mortality in 2015 and 2016, and did not invite Cheshire Constabulary to investigate until May 2017, as Letby remained on site until her arrest more than a year later.
The Thirlwall report found that senior nurses never accepted that the consultants’ concerns were, or might be, justified, and that there was a prolonged delay by senior managers in calling the police.
It ruled that successive internal and external reviews commissioned by hospital leadership after concerns were raised about Letby did not address whether deliberate harm was being caused or not.
The mum of one of Letby’s victims told the inquiry the hospital was ‘concentrating on saving their own skins and jobs and reputations’.
She added: ‘Babies died because someone in an office being paid hundreds of thousands of pounds didn’t want the hospital to look bad if they shut.’
Lady Justice Thirlwall, one of the country’s most senior judges, said today: ‘No one could disagree with any of these observations.’
Her report found the lack of consideration shown to parents at that time was ‘reprehensible’.
She said: ‘There was a complete failure to protect babies on the neonatal unit at the Countess of Chester Hospital.
‘This was because no-one seems to have understood that safeguarding action is required when a member of staff is suspected of causing deliberate harm and does not require colleagues to be sure of guilt.
‘My report describes dysfunctional management and governance, a gulf between hospital leadership and clinicians, and failure to understand the fundamentals of safeguarding.’
Lady Justice Thirlwall went on: ‘How many lives could have been saved had the hospital acted differently? This is something we will never know for sure.
‘It is clear that some babies would have been saved and some attacks would have been prevented if action was taken earlier.’
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