Posted 01 March 2023 - 12:59
Posted 01 March 2023 - 12:59
News
Lucy Letby: concerned doctors ‘felt pressure to not make a fuss’
Senior staff knew of ‘significant concerns’ in relation to deterioration of babies eight months before accused nurse stopped working on ward, says consultant
Senior staff knew of ‘significant concerns’ in relation to deterioration of babies eight months before accused nurse stopped working on ward, says consultant
A consultant has claimed doctors were pressured ‘not to make a fuss’ over concerns about nurse Lucy Letby in association with incidents in which babies’ health deteriorated.
Manchester Crown Court has heard significant concerns about the collapses in health were raised by consultants eight months before Ms Letby stopped working on a neonatal unit at the Countess of Chester Hospital.
Review of neonatal incidents ‘identified Lucy Letby’s presence’
Ms Letby is accused of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder ten others between June 2015 and June 2016, when she was working at the hospital. She denies all charges.
On 28 February, consultant Ravi Jayaram told the court: ‘We had significant concerns from the autumn of 2015. They were on the radar of someone as senior as the executive director of nursing as far back as October 2015.’
Ms Letby is alleged to have murdered two children and attempted to kill six others in the months following that.
The court previously heard that neonatal unit head Stephen Brearey reviewed the circumstances surrounding the case of Child D shortly after her death in June 2015. Dr Jayaram said the review identified Ms Letby’s presence at a number of collapses but this was ‘an association, nothing more’.
Concerns regarding Ms Letby flagged a second time
On Tuesday he said concerns were flagged a second time, in February 2016, to the medical director and the director of nursing. He told the court they did not respond for another three months.
Ben Myers KC, defending, said the doctors were ‘grown adults’ who could have gone straight to the police.
Dr Jayaram replied: ‘We were also beginning to get a reasonable amount of pressure from senior management at the hospital not to make a fuss.’
Earlier in the day, Dr Jayaram told the court he ‘felt extremely uncomfortable’ at the thought of Ms Letby being left alone with a baby girl, known as Child K.
Ms Letby is alleged to have deliberately dislodged the infant’s breathing tube shortly before Dr Jayaram walked into the nursery room. The Crown say Ms Letby did this at 3.50am, less than two hours after the baby’s extremely premature birth.
Child K’s designated nurse, Joanne Williams, said she left the ‘stable’ Child K to update her parents on the labour ward. Dr Jayaram said Ms Williams had informed him Ms Letby was keeping an eye on Child K.
‘At this point, in mid-February, we were aware as a team of a number of unexpected and unusual events and we were aware of an association with Ms Letby,’ he told the court. ‘I will admit it seemed entirely irrational and illogical – Jo told me she was going and Lucy was there; I felt extremely uncomfortable.’
Consultant tells of resuscitating Child K after checking on her
Dr Jayaram said he got up to check on Child K two or three minutes later and walked into the ward to find Ms Letby standing near the infant.
Phil Astbury, prosecuting, asked: ‘What, if anything, did you see?’
Dr Jayaram replied: ‘As I walked up, I saw Lucy Letby standing by the incubator and the ventilator. She didn’t have her hands in the incubator.
‘I saw her and then I looked up at the monitor and (Child K’s) sats (blood oxygen levels) were in the 80s and they continued to drop. The ventilator was not alarming and the incubator was not alarming and the monitor is set to alarm when the sats drop below 90%.’
Mr Astbury asked: ‘What, if anything, was she doing?’ Dr Jayaram replied: ‘Nothing. I wasn’t aware she was looking at the monitor… She didn’t say anything to me until I asked what was happening.’
Dr Jayaram said he went on to give rescue breaths to Child K and her chest began to move again and her oxygen levels went up.
Child K was transferred later that day to Wirral’s Arrowe Park Hospital, where she died three days later.
Jurors were told the Crown does not allege Ms Letby caused her death.
Doctor thought Child K’s ventilation tube may have been dislodged on purpose
Mr Myers told jurors the ‘probable cause’ of the dislodgement was the child inadvertently moving it herself. He said to Dr Jayaram: ‘You told the police that it might have been done on purpose.’
Dr Jayaram said: ‘It was certainly one of the things that crossed my mind.’
Asked by Mr Myers if he confronted Ms Letby, Dr Jayaram replied: ‘Absolutely not. It’s my job to deal with the baby. It’s not my job to do that.’
The trial continues.
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