This text sent to doc choc whilst she was in Ibiza caught my eye… this was before the death of child O, after the collapse of child N and seemingly from what we’ve heard this was around the time LL and doc choc were ‘getting to know eachother’ IMO
12:13pm
Letby messages the doctor 'Yep just got a few bits for lunch (although maybe I won't have time to eat).
The doctor replies he wasn't sure he'd eaten apart from a cereal bar before the triplets arrived.
Letby asks: "What gestation are the trips? I don't mind being busy anyway..."
Doctor: "33+5 [weeks gestation]. 3x Optiflo..."
After more messages, the doctor asks Letby if she has any choice where she is working.
Letby: "No, not with this new handover. Shift leader of night shift allocates for the day shift and vice versa. If your on a run of shifts you tend to stay with same babies."
Letby adds due to the skillsets, she tends to work in nursery room 1.
The trial of Lucy Letby, who denies murdering seven babies at the Countess of Chester Hospital neonatal unit and attempting to murder 10 more, is…
www.chesterstandard.co.uk
The bolded part IMO indicates that LL felt that room 1 was where the ‘more experienced’ or ‘better’ nurses were… she’s telling doc choc this asif to say ‘I’m one of the best nurses so I’m normally in room 1 with the poorly babies’ IMO.
Given how much of a fuss she’d kicked up before to be in room 1, this gives a little insight into why she was annoyed when others were put in there and she wasn’t IMO.
She wanted to be in there because IMO it’s where the ‘important’ and ‘better skilled’ nurses are.
IMO if guilty, she felt important when in room 1. Of course she has to brag about this to doc choc but subtly says due to ‘skill sets’, the meaning of this isn’t lost on me IMO it implies that LL is considered by others (and herself) to be ‘more skilled’, more qualified, more experienced, and has more ability to care for ITU babies than others. Over the course of 2015-2016 she mentions room 1 and her annoyances about not being put in there several times in texts to colleagues.
It’s interesting because this message serves two purposes IMO, she’s letting doc choc know she’s one of the ‘more skilled’ nurses on the unit and also giving a reason why she might be involved in any incidents of collapse. Because she’s more skilled so she’s put in charge of the ITU babies, everyone else is just feeding, changing nappies, doing the ‘boring’ jobs.
I personally think message gives quite a bit away and insight into how LL sees herself and wants others to see her. I can see how at the time it could be considered a throwaway comment with no meaning behind it but knowing what we know now I found it interesting. She doesn’t openly brag, possibly not wanting to come across as an egomaniac. Instead it’s the use of the phrase ‘due to skill sets’ which makes me wonder what she’s implying? Is it that they need LL because she’s a ‘good’ nurse and experienced, clever, knows what she’s doing.. while the others (according to her anyway) don’t have a clue?
She also later on makes a comment about being annoyed with a colleague for ‘faffing about’ because ‘I like things calm and tidy’, yet another reference to how others aren’t as great and superior like she is. But again it’s a subtle comment, IMO a well thought out one. Showing self awareness, and knowing that by openly bragging she could come across as self centred - if she was hoping to pursue romance with doc choc this could have been a conscious decision not wanting to ‘put him off’ yet knowing from his compliments that he sees her as a wonderful nurse and considers her superior ‘you are one of the few I would trust with my own children’ for example.
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