Two senior managers at the Countess of Chester Hospital were “disbelieving” of concerns raised by doctors that nurse Lucy Letby could be deliberately harming babies, a public inquiry has heard.
Medical director Ian Harvey and director of nursing Alison Kelly were interviewed by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) as part of an independent probe ordered by the health trust in response to the allegations.
Consultants Dr Stephen Brearey and Dr Ravi Jayaram told the RCPCH review team they were worried about the way in which collapses of infants in 2015 and 2016 had occurred and that they were sudden and unexplained.
They had noted the association with Letby’s presence and had even gone as far as to conduct research as to how she might have murdered children, the Thirlwall Inquiry into events surrounding the killer nurse’s crimes was told.
Asked about her impressions of the attitude of Mr Harvey and Mr Kelly to the doctors’ concerns and suspicions, review team member Alex Mancini: “I think his attitude was disbelieving and I also believed that Alison Kelly felt that as well.”
Counsel to the inquiry Nicholas de la Poer KC said: “Did you get the impression they were treating the allegations seriously and recognised the seriousness?”
“No,” replied Ms Mancini.
Fellow reviewer Claire McLaughlan told the hearing she had the “feeling” that Mr Harvey did not want to call the police in to investigate the matter and recalled Ms Kelly was “supportive” of Letby.
She agreed she “rather underestimated” the significance of the information given by the doctors.
Ms McLaughlan also recalled there were “lots of assertions” that Letby was being “scapegoated”.
Mr de la Poer said: “Do you think you placed too great an emphasis on that?”
Ms McLaughlan said: “In retrospect, yes.”
The review’s clinical lead, Dr David Shortland, told inquiry chairwoman Lady Justice Thirlwall the RCPCH probe “could never deal with the issues that the doctors had raised” and that it failed to produce answers to the doctors’ concerns.
The inquiry has heard that the hospital’s executive team decided to commission a number of reviews into the increased mortality at the neonatal unit rather than call in the police as Letby was moved to clerical duties in July 2016.
Cheshire Police were not brought in to investigate the matter until May 2017.
Letby, 34, from Hereford, is serving 15 whole-life orders after she was convicted at Manchester Crown Court of murdering seven infants and attempting to murder seven others, with two attempts on one of her victims, between June 2015 and June 2016.
The inquiry is expected to sit until early 2025, with findings published by late autumn of that year.
