VICDOC Summer 2023 - Magazine - Page 91
August 2023, Lucy Letby was
I nsentenced
to life imprisonment for
the murder of seven infants and the
attempted murder of six others whilst
working as a neonatal nurse at the
Countess of Chester Hospital in Chester,
England between June 2015 and June
2016. It emerged that it was not due a
lack of suspicion raised by medical staff
that Letby’s crimes went undetected for
years, but the inadequate management by
the hospital’s administration of concerns
raised by staff.
A small group of consultant
whistleblowers, who worked with Letby
in the neonatal unit, played a central role.
When they initially raised their concerns,
they were not treated well by hospital
administration. Their requests for urgent
meetings were ignored, their concerns
were dismissed, and two consultants
were instructed to enter into a mediation
process with Letby. They were warned
that Letby’s father had threatened to
refer them to the General Medical Council
unless they withdrew their allegations,
and they were asked to write a letter of
apology to her, which one consultant did.
Hospital administration did not request
the police to investigate until two years
after the last murder.
The Letby circumstances raise an
issue as to whether public hospital
administrators should be subject to
external review by a statutory authority
for their decisions, which indirectly
affect clinical outcomes, in the same
way that health practitioners are.
It is reasonable to ask why the
consultants did not escalate their
suspicions to the police when their
concerns were frustrated by the hospital.
However, it would have been reasonable
for an employee to be fearful that their
employment would be at risk by reporting
the matter externally, particularly in
circumstances where the suspicions
would require thorough investigation
before a criminal accusation could be
substantiated, and where your employer
has disciplined you for raising your
concerns internally, and a ‘gag’ clause
in your contract obliges you to keep
confidential all of the business affairs
of the hospital.
If adverse matters appear to be
happening in the workplace, hospital
medical staff ought to be aware that there
are several avenues that may be available
to raise issues externally, depending on
the nature of the concerns.
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