Warnings about Lucy Letby weren’t acted on - says doctor who worked with serial killer nurse

it was the unusual nature of their collapses the way they didn't respond as we'd expect to resuscitation and for some of them some unusual features such as strange rashes and when this kept happening then we became very worried something abnormal something that couldn't be medically explained was happening at what point did you start to think what at that time must have been unthinkable well I think we all got extremely worried us pediatricians I got very worried by June 2016 because we'd had this review of some of the deaths in February 2016 which had shown that a number of them were unusual unexpected um and had revealed that Lucy letby was associated with all of those cases um and then in June 2016 there were several deaths in very quick succession of babies that we really I mean similar to some of the other babies were doing very well um that the risk of them dying was small we weren't expecting them to go home and suddenly one after another they died and that really worried us and at that point we felt something drastic had to be done to protect the babies on the unit I mean it sounds like it was horrific being there to be blunts well it's horrific whenever babies die in the near naked unit it's devastating for the parents um the fact we'd seen this many times over the previous year far more than any of the 20 odd years that I've been working there before was a big worry yes did it reach a point where when an alarm went off you were instantly worried that the same thing would be happening again probably only by late 2016 by June certainly when I went to the near Nickel unit around that time for yet another collapse um I did feel oh no not another one and also I imagine you would get there and realize that Lucy lapby was in the area where this was happening as well yes and towards the end of that year once heart was sink when it was all Lucy let me there again yes and at that point it sounds like your concern wasn't that she wasn't up to the job or that she wasn't a competent nurse the concern was that she was deliberately harming babies our worry was that she might be doing that because we couldn't understand why these babies quite a few of them were collapsing why some of them were dying you and your colleagues started raising your concerns didn't you yes they were raised at various intervals yes but particularly from February 2016 concerns were being raised and fed up to the senior managers why did it then take so long for the police to be called a well I think there was resistance on the Senior Management side to involving the police but I don't know quite why and really the senior managers ought to be asked because I think they were receiving advice from different sources we pediatricians were certainly concerned that someone and suspicions fell on Lucy letby could have been harming and perhaps killing patients on the unit the managers they have to answer for themselves I think they were receiving advice or information opinions from various sources um if they just listened to us Hospital pediatricians I think the police would have been called in a lot earlier I mean you say that it it should have happened earlier no because it did take quite a long period of time before the hospital asked for the police to become involved do you think that had consequences it made the job more difficult for the police investigating these alleged or suspected episodes of harm deliberate harm when they were doing it several years later and all of us professional Witnesses doctors and nurses were giving statements several years after the events now we always keep medical and nursing notes and we could refer to those to remind ourselves what happened at the time but as for who was doing what when who was standing where when who was last with the patient before they collapsed trying to remember that to give the information to the police as part of their investigation several years after the event was very difficult and often for myself and I believe various colleagues you had to say I just can't remember exactly who was doing what at the time do you regret not having personally contacted police um looking back on it knowing that babies were collapsing and dying during that year it is regrettable I hadn't we hadn't stopped it sooner but as I say the pattern of these deaths being unusual amongst the other collapses and deaths that were happening amongst the 300 odd babies who have been cared for on the unit it did take us time to realize something very worrying was happening but perhaps earlier in 2016 it could have been stopped how would you describe what Lucy lapby did well it's it's difficult um it's hard to understand why someone who's given the trust and also been trained to care for vulnerable patients would abuse that trust would abuse all the responsibility of um having vulnerable patients dependent on you and actually try to harm them I can't begin to imagine why someone would do that what motives they'd have for doing that um but sadly experience has shown healthcare workers occasionally do harm their patients for whatever reason um and I suppose the hope is that if ever it was to happen again it would be spotted quickly and investigated appropriately I think there are reasons to look at what's happened in the Council of Chester to think that wasn't quite done properly

Channel: Channel 4 News

Views: 108,410

Keywords: lucy letby, lucy, letby, lucy letby nurse, who is lucy letby, lucy letby background, lucy letby parents, lucy letby who is she, the trial of lucy letby, lucy letby trial, chester, guilty, nurse

Id: 2HsWAZYUNEU

Length: 6min 59sec (419 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 18 2023