Convicted child serial killer Lucy Letby was referred to by junior doctors at the hospital where she worked as “nurse death,” a public inquiry has heard.
But concerns about a spike in baby deaths were not discussed at hospital board level until after Letby’s year-long attack spree had ended.
Letby, who was also referred to as the “elephant in the room”, was removed from non-clinical duties after the deaths of two triplet boys and the suspected collapse of another boy at the Countess of Chester Hospital’s neonatal unit on three successive days in June 2016.
Counsel to the inquiry Nicholas de la Poer KC explained on Wednesday afternoon that junior doctors had begun labelling Letby as "nurse death" by September 2016.
Consultant paediatricians had previously urged executives to move Letby, 34, out of the unit on the grounds of “patient safety” after a number of them had previously raised fears about her.
An extraordinary meeting of the board of directors was later held in which chief executive Tony Chambers informed them there had been an unexplained increase in neonatal mortality at the hospital trust.
The official minutes recorded Dr Ravi Jayaram, clinical lead for paediatric services, asking for one matter not to be minuted.
The Thirlwall Inquiry into events surrounding the crimes of Letby, convicted of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder seven others, heard various board committees failed to escalate concerns about neonatal mortality or Letby.
An entry in an “urgent care risk register” in July 2016 referred to “potential damage to reputation of the neonatal service and wider trust due to apparent increased mortality within the neonatal unit”, the inquiry heard.
Mr de la Poer said: “The risk was characterised in terms of reputational harm, rather than in terms of a risk to the safety of babies.”
He said it was also “noteworthy” the entry came after a thematic review in February 2016 had “clearly identified” a higher-than-expected mortality rate on the neonatal unit in 2015.
Mr de la Poer said there was no record of the consultants’ concerns of deliberate harm to babies in the urgent risk register or in the corporate directors’ group meeting minutes.
He said: “The inquiry will be seeking to understand why this is, and also why it appears that it took until July 2016, one year and one month after the first indictment baby death, and five months after the thematic review, for the concerns to be formally recorded in these forums.”
Mr de la Poer went on: “The inquiry will be seeking to understand why the concerns which were being expressed at the neonatal unit level were not escalated more quickly and clearly through the designated channels, and if they had been what should have happened.
“Why did it take until July 2016 for the increase in neonatal mortality to be discussed at a board meeting?”
Mr de la Poer also highlighted that Sir Duncan Nichol, who was chairman of the hospital board from 2012 to 2020, was the NHS chief executive when nurse Beverley Allitt committed a string of murders and attacks at Grantham Hospital in 1991.
He said: “Following the Clothier Inquiry into Allitt’s attacks, Sir Duncan was responsible for the distribution of the Clothier report across the NHS, writing to all health authorities and trusts to draw it to their attention.
“The inquiry is interested to hear from Sir Duncan about the lessons he and the wider NHS learnt from the Allitt case and why the parallel between Letby and Allitt was not drawn earlier at the hospital.”
Letby, 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 first week of the Thirlwall Inquiry will hear opening statements from the counsel to the inquiry, along with legal representatives from core participants including the families of Letby’s victims.
Lady Justice Thirlwall said it was planned that the hearings in Liverpool would finish in early 2025 and she expected her findings to be published by late autumn of that year.
A court order prohibits reporting of the identities of the surviving and dead children involved in the case.
