Staff at Lucy Letby’s hospital flagged concerns about a doctor who had been on shift when many babies died or collapsed, leaked documents have revealed.
Prosecutor at Letby’s trial Nick Johnson KC told the court consultants had become suspicious of the neonatal nurse after noticing incidents had “one common denominator”.
Letby , 34, was found guilty of killing seven babies in August last year.
However, a leaked email between staff at the Countess of Chester Hospital shows that a senior nurse had “raised concerns” about a doctor who “features in a number of cases of babies who collapse”, the Telegraph reported.
At the Thirlwall Inquiry into the deaths this week Kate Blackwell KC, who is representing the hospital management, said one of the reasons Letby had not been considered a risk earlier was because it “appeared that there was also a doctor who’d been on shift at the time of seven of the incidents”.
Leaked documents reveal that neonatal unit manager Eirian Powell and lead consultant Dr Stephen Brearey created a staffing chart for unexpected deaths and collapses.
The chart included both nurses and doctors on duty during incidents.
However, Powell was alarmed to discover that when the chart reached Alison Kelly, executive director of nursing, the column listing doctors had been deleted.
Only nursing staff remained on the final version sent to senior management.
Letby has recently taken on a new legal team to review her case and potentially launch a new appeal.
Meanwhile the Thirlwall Inquiry is investigating how Letby was able to murder seven babies and attempt to murder seven more at the Countess of Chester Hospital between June 2015 and June 2016.
On Friday, Kate Blackwell KC, representing medical director Ian Harvey and director of nursing and quality Alison Kelly, said the pair were first made aware by consultants at the end of June 2016 that Letby may be directly connected to the deaths.
