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Lucy Letby trial: doctor asked for nurse to be removed from duties

Hospital boss refused to remove nurse from neonatal unit despite senior paediatrician’s concerns, trial hears

Hospital boss refused to remove nurse from neonatal unit despite senior paediatrician’s concerns, trial hears

Court sketch of nurse Lucy Letby
Court sketch of nurse Lucy Letby. Picture: Alamy

Nurse Lucy Letby allegedly tried to murder a baby after a hospital boss refused to remove her from nursing duties, a court has heard.

Paediatrician raised concerns following the deaths of two infant brothers on successive days

A senior paediatrician at the Countess of Chester Hospital told nursing chief Karen Rees that he and his consultant colleagues were not happy with Ms Letby continuing to work on the neonatal unit.

Stephen Brearey said he raised the matter following the deaths of two brothers on successive days in June 2016.

The prosecution say the infants, Childs O and P, were the 15th and 16th victims of Ms Letby.

On Tuesday Dr Brearey, head consultant on the unit, told Manchester Crown Court he held a staff debrief following the deaths of Childs O and P on 23 and 24 of June.

He said Ms Letby was present at the debrief and he asked her how she was feeling.

‘I can remember suggesting to her she would need the weekend off to recover from the traumatic events,’ Dr Brearey said.

‘She didn’t seem overly upset in the debrief, or upset at all, and she told me she was on shift the next day, which was a Saturday.

‘I was concerned about this because we had already expressed our concerns to senior management about the association with nurse Letby and the deaths we had seen on the unit.’

Paediatrician told Ms Letby would not be taken off duties, court told

Following the briefing Mr Brearey said he rang Ms Rees to raise his concerns.

‘She was familiar with our concerns already. I explained what had happened and I didn’t want nurse Letby to come back to work the following day or until this was all investigated properly,’ he told the court.

Ms Rees told him Ms Letby would not be taken off duties and that she was happy to take responsibility for the decision, Dr Brearey added.

The following day, on 25 June 2016, Ms Letby is accused of attempting to murder Child Q during a day shift by injecting him with air.

Defence suggests ‘a bias against’ the way the nurse behaved

Dr Brearey had previously conducted a review in 2015 into the circumstances surrounding the death of another baby and found an ‘association’ with Ms Letby and her presence at a number of collapses up to that point were noted, the court heard.

Ben Myers KC, defending, said: ‘I would suggest that once Ms Letby had been identified as someone, or a factor, that caused concern there was naturally a bias against her in the way she behaved and the way it was interpreted, do you agree?’

Dr Brearey replied: ‘I disagree.’

A further review of collapses at the unit from a neonatologist based at Liverpool Women’s Hospital took place in February 2016, the court was told.

Dr Brearey said he sent a report of those findings to the director of nursing and the hospital’s medical director and confirmed that during this period there was no formal complaint made to the police.

Mr Myers asked: ‘If somebody hurt a baby on your unit and you believed you had the identity of the person responsible, you’d report it to the police wouldn’t you?’

Doctor tells court there were ‘no more events’ after Ms Letby left the neonatal unit

Dr Brearey said: ‘Actually, the senior nursing staff on the unit didn’t believe this could be true up until the point and beyond when the triplets (Child O and P) died.

‘None of us (the consultants) wanted to believe it either. This all became very exceptional and it took a step back to think about it. The nature of these collapses, the unexpected nature of them, the lack of response to resuscitation, the unusual rash noted on a number of occasions and each time the association with nurse Letby.’

Dr Brearey said there were ‘no more events’ after Ms Letby left the neonatal unit.

Ms Letby denies the murders of seven babies and the attempted murders of 10 others between June 2015 and June 2016. The trial continues.


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