The lead doctor who first raised the alarm over serial killer nurse Lucy Letby has called for NHS managers to be held accountable for failings and better protection for whistleblowers over concerns complaints against her were ignored.
Dr Stephen Brearey wants hospital managers to be regulated in the same way as doctors and nurses, after Letby was allowed to continue in her role until June 2016 despite concerns being raised by clinicians months before.
The call comes as Letby, 33, begins her whole-life sentence in prison for the murder of seven babies and the attempted murders of six more at the Countess of Chester Hospital, where she carried out her year-long killing spree on the neonatal unit.
She refused to appear in the dock for her sentencing hearing on Monday and ministers have vowed to change the law to ensure serious offenders can be forced to attend court.
Asked if he would like to see regulation of hospital administrators, paediatrician Dr Brearey, who blew the whistle on Letby in 2015, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Absolutely. Because doctors and nurses all have their regulatory bodies that we have to answer to.
“And quite often, we’ll see senior managers who have no apparent accountability for what they do in our trusts, and they move to other trusts, and you worry about their future actions.
“There doesn’t seem to be any system to make them accountable and for them to justify their actions in a systematic way.”
He added: “I think our experiences aren’t uncommon in the NHS, that you go to senior colleagues with a problem and you come away confused and anxious because that problem is being turned in a way in which you start to realise that they’re seeing you as a problem rather than the concern that you have.”
His colleague, Dr Ravi Jayaram, who also raised concerns about Letby, told ITV: “As far as I can tell the people in senior NHS management positions, there is no robust system of accountability of appraisal. This is the culture in the NHS and it has to change.”
A doctors’ union has also called for the law to change to better protect NHS whistleblowers.
The Hospital Consultants and Specialists Association (HCSA) said there should be an independent organisation where whistleblowers should be registered and that it should become a criminal offence if those who speak out face recrimination.
Dr Naru Narayanan, HCSA president, told Sky News: “There has to be better protection for people who raise concerns, but we see time and again that people who do so face retribution, revenge and retaliation, and they fear for their careers.
“There has to be a significant rehaul which has to be protected by law, where whistleblowers are afforded the protection they deserve.”
Tamlin Bolton, a solicitor for law firm Switalskis, which is representing the families of seven of Letby’s victims, said that the families thought it was a “disgrace” that Letby did not attend her sentencing hearing.
“One of the fathers said to me that it actually spits in the face of the justice system,” she told BBC Breakfast.
It comes as the government said that a statutory inquiry into Letby’s crimes is “on the table”.
Ms Bolton said that a statutory inquiry into Letby’s crimes is “exactly” what the families of her victims want.
Dr Brearey echoed the call, telling the Today programme: “Just the magnitude of the events that occurred and the effect it has had on so many people, obviously primarily the families.
“I wouldn’t, for them, expect anything other than a statutory inquiry with the most wide-ranging and statutory powers.
“It is clearly what the parents deserve.
“And you know, the problems that we encountered weren’t confined to the problems in the trust – this is a multi-organisational learning opportunity involving other organisations, the CQC (Care Quality Commission), the GMC (General Medical Council), the College of Paediatrics as well as NHS England, and that can only be achieved with a statutory inquiry.”
Quizzed on the prospect of a statutory inquiry, Education Secretary Gillian Keegan told Times Radio: “I was speaking to the Prime Minister yesterday and he made it really clear that what we need to do is make sure the families get answers, we learn the lessons as well, and it is a very transparent process that everyone can get behind.
The families of Lucy Letby’s victims branded the nurse ‘evil’ as they gave emotional victim impact statements during her sentencing hearing at Manchester Crown Court (Cheshire Constabulary/PA)— (PA Media)
“What will happen next is there will be a chair appointed, the chair will work with the families to look at the terms of reference, discuss the pros and cons of different types of inquiry, and then they will come to a conclusion.
“But it is most important that the families get the answers that they need and that they deserve and that it is a transparent process which gives us the lessons learned as well.”
Pressed about whether it should be a statutory inquiry, she added: “That is something that is on the table, that is something that can be discussed.
“But there are pros and cons to the two types of inquiry, so when the chair works with them on the terms of reference that will be something that they can input to them.”
A chair should be appointed to consult with the interested parties, to consult with the tragic families that have been involved in this, to find out what they want, and you may find there’s not one united voice about this— Sir Robert Francis KC
Sir Robert Francis KC, who chaired the inquiry into serious care failings at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust, said that the families of Letby’s victims should decide on whether the inquiry into her crimes should be statutory.
He told Times Radio: “A chair should be appointed to consult with the interested parties, to consult with the tragic families that have been involved in this, to find out what they want, and you may find there’s not one united voice about this.
“So I would ask them what they feel they want and why they want it and indeed other people.”
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer repeated his call for the inquiry to be put on a statutory footing.
Asked if the inquiry should consider the regulation of NHS managers, he told broadcasters: “I think a statutory inquiry should look at all relevant issues. It would have the power to do so.
“Then strong conclusions can be drawn.”
