West Country hospitals insist staff will be listened to, following Letby sentencing
Former nurse Lucy Letby will spend the rest of her life in jail after murdering seven babies and attempting to kill another six at the Countess of Chester Hospital
Last updated 24th Aug 2023
West Country NHS Trusts are insisting they will listen to concerns raised by staff, as the fallout from the sentencing of former nurse Lucy Letby continues.
Letby was given 14 whole life orders on Monday (21 August) meaning she will die in prison, after being found guilty of murdering seven babies and attempting to kill another six while working as a nurse at the Countess of Chester Hospital near Liverpool.
During the trial it emerged concerns raised about Letby by other staff members were not addressed for months, with consultants who raised the alarm saying lives could have been saved if hospital management had listened to them.
Concerns were first raised about Letby in 2015, with police only contacted in 2017.
Letby's victims were all killed between June 2015 and June 2016.
Spokespeople for both the University Hospitals Bristol & Weston NHS Foundation Trust (UHBW) and the North Bristol NHS Trust (NBT) say they take concerns raised by staff "very seriously".
Stuart Walker, Chief Medical Officer for UHBW said: “At UHBW, the safety and wellbeing of our staff and patients is our top priority and we take all concerns very seriously.
“We want all staff, patients and their loved ones to feel empowered to safely raise any concerns they have about our Trust and feel confident that concerns will be heard and acted upon.
"All UHBW staff have access to information on how to speak up, including the support of our HR Services; our patient safety, clinical governance and safeguarding teams, Trade Unions, access to Trust Chaplains, Freedom to Speak Up Guardians, staff network groups and Trust governors.”
In a similar statement, Professor Steve Hams, Chief Nursing Officer at NBT said: “We want all patients, families and staff to feel safe to speak up if they have any concerns about our Trust and confident that their voice will be heard, and the right procedures followed.
“We ensure all staff at NBT have access to a range of ways to speak up including Freedom to Speak Up Guardians, Trade Unions, our patient safety, safeguarding and people teams, and contacting members of our Trust Board directly.
"Our Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) is always available for our patients and their families to make us aware of any issues or raise concerns about their care.”
It comes as the families of those killed by Letby call for a public inquiry into the handling of concerns raised at the Countess of Chester Hospital.
The government has already ordered an inquiry into what happened, but currently proceedings are due to be "non statutory", meaning witnesses could not be compelled to give evidence.
The families, some politicians and others have called for that to change, so the inquiry can have more powers.
We have also contacted the Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust and NHS Somerset for a comment.