UK - Lucy Letby - Post-Conviction Statutory Inquiry

[katydid23]

What have we heard this week?​

As the inquiry finishes for the week let's recap the main development of the last few days.

Day 1

• The "tenacious lobbying" of senior consultants may have prevented Lucy Letby from attacking more babies, but "significant opportunities" were missed to investigate her, the inquiry heard

Day 2

• Junior doctors referred to Lucy Letby as "Nurse Death", and paediatricians thought Letby was "the common denominator" in increased baby deaths on the neonatal ward
• Nicholas de la Poer KC said Letby had attempted to murder one of the babies during a hospital inspection at Countess of Chester Hospital

Day 3

• Babies' breathing tubes were found to have been dislodged at an unusual rate during Letby's placements at Liverpool Women's Hospital - Richard Baker KC said this occurs in less than 1% of shifts, but there were recorded incidents of this on 40% of the shifts Letby worked
• Baker told the inquiry that people who doubted her guilt "should be ashamed of themselves"

Day 4

• NHS managers said they were "truly sorry" for delay in contacting police over Letby and NHS England said it "could have done more to scrutinise the hospital" during the time it first became aware of the rise in neonatal mortality figures and when the police became involved

 

[katydid23]

• 
  "Nicholas de la Poer KC said Letby had attempted to murder one of the babies during a hospital inspection at Countess of Chester Hospital"

I didn't really put this together until now---apparently the attempted murder of Baby K happened during a formal inspection of CoC ---Did Letby know the inspectors were there?

ETA---YES, apparently Lucy did know they were there?



We're now hearing from Jenni Richards KC, who is speaking on behalf of the regulator for health and social care providers, the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

She is running through the details of the inspection which the CQC made at the hospital in 2016 - during the time window of Letby’s crimes.

As a reminder, Letby has been convicted of attempting to murder a baby girl, baby K, in the early hours of the morning of the second day of the CQC inspection.

 

[Sweeper2000]

She really couldn't stop herself could she?

 

[katydid23]

Ok, so to refresh our memories of Baby K situation:

Lucy Letby guilty of trying to kill baby

The baby's family say they have been forced to endure a "long, torturous and emotional journey - twice".

www.bbc.com

The jury agreed that the former nurse had dislodged the baby’s breathing tube and stood by her incubator watching her blood oxygen levels drop, without intervening.

Consultant paediatrician Dr Ravi Jayaram had caught her "virtually red-handed" as he entered the unit's intensive care room at about 03:45.

Dr Jayaram, who intervened to resuscitate the child, told jurors he saw "no evidence" that Letby had done anything to help the deteriorating baby.

He said he heard no call for help from Letby, or alarms sounding as Baby K's blood oxygen levels suddenly dropped.

Letby told the jury of six women and six men she had no recollection of any such event.


[so while the Care Quality Commission (CQC) was actively inspecting the level of care in CoC, Nurse Letby quietly dislodged a breathing tube in Baby K's pod, and stood silently, waiting for her to run out of oxygen???]

 

[Parker Knoll]

Yes - she was sabotaging at that very point.
Incredible.

 

[katydid23]

Yes - she was sabotaging at that very point.
Incredible.

And I'm certain that all staff would have been told the inspectors were sniffing around, so everyone has to be very careful and follow all regulations, etc....and her strongest impulse is to dislodge another breathing tube.

 

[Parker Knoll]

You couldn’t make this up.

 

[Tortoise]

[ oh oh, as Senior Management begins their excuse-making, I hope it doesn't become 'evidence' for the LucyIsInnocent crowd.]​

​

​

Letby regarded as a 'good and competent nurse​

​

Judith Moritz
Reporting from the inquiry

Blackwell is now addressing the frequency of infant mortality while Letby was working.
Senior managers were aware that she had had been on shift when "a number of deaths occurred for some time", she says, adding that Letby had specialist training which meant she was more likely to be with the sickest patients on her own.
She "showed her willingness to work extra shifts," she adds.

“The neonatal unit manager Eirian Powell was firmly of the view that Letby was a good and competent nurse.”

“The Senior Managers believe that, given the information with which we were provided, and the need to maintain an open mind about possible causes of the mortality rates on the NNU, we acted appropriately at the time.”

Blackwell says the managers believe they made "reasonable decisions" and were held to account by the hospital board and CEO.

No, they made TERRIBLE decisions, not reasonable decisions. This just makes me furious, that they are defending their actions, when they dismissed the worries of senior medical practitioners with decades of experience, and threatened sanctions, risked the lives and health of the babies, because they were more concerned about LL. They were pushing for her return until the very last minute.

I don't even believe the reason given for moving LL to dayshifts, saying it was to provide LL with more support, and "not a punishment". What sort of answer is that? I believe EP did it in response to the doctors noticing a pattern of it happening at night, and setting out to prove them wrong. But admitting that would mean they were defiant, protective of a murdering nurse, and have blood on their hands for all the babies after baby K, IMO.

This inquiry demands candour! What a sorry bunch they are.

IMO

 

[Tortoise]

And I'm certain that all staff would have been told the inspectors were sniffing around, so everyone has to be very careful and follow all regulations, etc....and her strongest impulse is to dislodge another breathing tube.

Letby messages a colleague about the unit being a "hive of activity" on February 16 in preparation for a visit from "the big bods", and there is a discussion on the possible of delivery of Child K.
Letby mentions one colleague had suspected conjuctivits, but had still come into work, and adds "Hope I haven't caught anything".
Said colleague had also not "done anything but moan" that day, Letby says.
Letby messages the ill colleague saying she hopes that colleague is felling better soon. The colleague responds she was felling better after a day of bed rest, and thanks Letby for her message.

Recap: Lucy Letby trial, Monday, February 27

 

[Tortoise]

A sober fact-finding exercise - or an adversarial battleground?​

13:04 BST​

Judith Moritz
Reporting from the inquiry

This week has given us a snapshot impression of the months to come.

The opening statements at any public inquiry are where you first hear those involved set out their stalls - giving a taste of their headline positions on significant issues, before witnesses start coming to give their evidence.

It’s already clear to me that this is an inquiry which will see different key players banging heads against each other.

Lawyers for the babies’ families didn’t hold back in their criticism of the senior managers at the hospital, accusing them of dishonesty, and a coverup which they suggest appears to have been motivated by the need to protect reputations.

The senior managers have dismissed this suggestion outright as being illogical - saying they didn’t prioritise the reputation of the hospital trust at any time.

They’ve hinted that they’re likely to criticise the consultants on Lucy Letby’s unit - asking why they didn’t contact the police, the nursing regulator or other external bodies directly.

Everyone who’s spoken this week has said that they support the inquiry, and the need to learn lessons.

It will be interesting to see whether that shared aim means that the hearings are a sober fact-finding exercise, or whether they become an adversarial battleground.

• You can follow all the updates to the inquiry here, and a here is a reminder of Lucy Letby's court case.

Lucy Letby hospital inquiry: NHS bosses 'truly sorry' for delay in contacting police over Letby, inquiry hears

 

[Baby baby Jane]

She finishes by saying this was not something ever expected to occur on a neonatal ward, "it being so against the natural order of what was contemplated or foreseen”.

100%
In this ward, who could even consider a colleague - Consultant or Nurse, consciously deciding to harm the most vulnerable of all possible patients? Deliberate harm/murder would be last possible “cause” that would be considered … pre-LL.