Letby hospital bosses 'facilitated a mass murderer'
· BBC NewsLaura O'Neill
BBC News
Kim Pilling
PA News
Hospital bosses "facilitated a mass murderer" by ignoring concerns about Lucy Letby, the mother of one of the babies killed by the neonatal nurse said.
She said her daughter's death in October 2015 could have been prevented had "prompt and effective action" been taken after three infants died in June of that year at the Countess of Chester Hospital.
Letby murdered the baby girl, who can only be identified as Child I, by injecting air into her stomach and bloodstream.
In a statement read to the public inquiry examining how Letby was able to attack babies, Child I's mother said: "I believe the doctors and nursing staff should have acted earlier."
She added: "Those in positions of authority at the hospital should have listened to them instead of trying to create their own narrative that Lucy Letby was a victim of bullying and harassment.
"Someone should have investigated the concerns fully at the time. This is what management are paid so handsomely to do. They shouldn't have been concentrating on saving their own skins and jobs and reputations.
"Babies died because someone in an office being paid hundreds of thousands of pounds didn't want the hospital to look bad if they shut the neonatal unit down while they investigated why so many babies were deteriorating when they should have been thriving."
'Blinded by self-preservation'
She said "much more should have been done" after three babies had died within a short period of time in similar circumstances.
"Had prompt and effective action been taken at that time," the mother said, "so many other babies would have survived or not have suffered enduring, life-changing harm.
"How many babies needed to die or be seriously harmed for action to be taken to stop Lucy Letby? Sadly, we all now know the answer.
"People paid huge salaries allowed this to happen. They made doctors apologise to Lucy Letby when she had murdered babies and continued to harm other babies.
"The Countess of Chester Hospital was totally blinded by self-preservation that they forgot why they exist - to remain true to the Hippocratic oath."
Child I's mother suggested senior managers should face sanctions if they ignore whistleblowers' concerns.
"At the present time, there appear to be no sanctions against those who lied and kept information whilst babies were being killed and harmed by Lucy Letby.
"It was only when it became untenable to keep up the pretence that they finally opened up on the scale of concerns raised against her and the number of babies that she had harmed.
"I honestly believe that these people should have to explain why they didn't do something earlier.
“Why they ignored the multitude of concerns raised about Lucy Letby's conduct. Why their actions facilitated a mass murderer."
Recalling her experiences with Letby on the unit, Child I's mother said: "Her face was always on the babies' fundraising pictures.
"I remember thinking she was a bit quiet and a bit odd. She always seemed a bit of a loner. We saw her around on the odd occasion but we didn't have much to do with her."
When she later received her daughter's medical records, she said she was "absolutely shocked" at how involved Letby had been.
She said: "She is all over her notes. I have noticed a lot of the 'care' was when I wasn't present."
'The cruelest way'
Concluding her statement, Child I's mother said: "Our baby would have turned nine this year. We should have been watching her grow and play with her siblings and friends.
"However, we have to somehow try to live with the fact all this has been taken away from her and us in the cruellest way possible.
"No parent should ever have to go through what we have been and continue to go through each and every day.
"To understand how easily my beautiful girl's death could have been prevented hurts even more.
"Forever and a day, I will continue to ask 'why?"'
Letby, 34, from Hereford, will spend the rest of her life in prison after being convicted of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder seven others.
The public inquiry, which is being overseen by High Court judge Lady Justice Thirlwall in Liverpool, is expected to sit until early next year.
Her findings are expected to be published by the late autumn of 2025.