NHS’s culture of denial allowed Lucy Letby to keep killing babies

‘The consultants should have felt able to report their suspicions directly to the police,’ writes Dr Maybelle Wallis. Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty

Re your editorial on the Lucy Letby case (18 August), I have been a paediatrician since 1985, a consultant since 1996 in the UK, and since 2017 in Ireland. Like my colleagues, I am grieved and outraged at reading that NHS managers were unable to prevent Letby from perpetrating irreversible harm.

A neonatal database flagging a spike in deaths would not have helped – neonatologists, who submit the reports to these databases, were aware of the spike as it happened. They had identified the suspected perpetrator, but they were obstructed by their managers.