Neonatal nurses are resigning from Britain’s baby units because they fear being accused of harming infants like in the case of Lucy Letby, a consultant has claimed in a new Channel 5 documentary.
In the documentary, which looks into concerns with the Letby conviction, Dr Svilena Dimitrova, a consultant neonatologist, warned that NHS problems were “endemic” and nurses were frightened they could be scapegoated for failing wards.
In August last year, Letby was convicted of the murders of seven newborns and the attempted murders of six other infants at the Countess of Chester Hospital. A retrial in July found her guilty of the attempted murder of another child.
But several scientists and doctors have since questioned the evidence, and there are concerns that not enough weight was given in the trial to levels of understaffing, poor practice and cramped conditions in the baby unit.
Since the trial it has also emerged that the ward struggled to contain infectious outbreaks that may have put the babies at risk.
Dr Dimitrova, who works for Brighton and Sussex University Hospital Trust, said: “The NHS is not what it used to be, when I started working within it. We are enormously challenged and suboptimal outcomes occur.
“I have worked in more than 15 hospitals in my career, and I’ve worked on five surgical neonatal units, and these issues are endemic.
“We can see issues that have now come to light with regards to the circ*mstances at the Countess of Chester, which we suspect have played a very big role in the increased incidences of deaths in these years.
“What it has definitely led to is huge fear, amid, especially the neonatal nursing body. I have never seen so many nurses resign as I have seen in the past 18 months.”
‘It’s made us worried’
An experienced neonatal nurse, who chose to remain anonymous, told the documentary-makers the Letby conviction had left staff concerned that they may be accused of killing babies.
“It’s made me and others quite worried,” she said. “I think there is a general fear of speaking up.
“The conviction has had a negative effect on our profession, it’s made us more worried about what the parents might think.
“I think it’s alarming how they’ve thrown allegations at Lucy. I realise how easily it could have been one of my colleagues or me. What’s gone on with Lucy is very close to home.”
‘Multiple problems’
Experts interviewed for the film said that the Countess of Chester had “multiple problems” and that “adverse outcomes often occur in such situations”.
An investigation by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health found that in 2017 there were organisational and environmental issues with the ward and major issues with understaffing, but the report was not shown to the jury.
As revealed this weekend in The Telegraph, the hospital had also struggled to get rid of a dangerous bacteria which had colonised taps in the neonatal unit, during the period when deaths spiked. But the jury was not told about the infection risk.
Dr Faye Skelton, programme lead of applied criminology and forensic psychology at Edinburgh Napier University, told the documentary-makers: “Lucy was an extremely experienced nurse and colleagues trusted her.
“It doesn’t seem to me that Lucy Letby being a murderer is the only explanation for all of these things happening.”
Experts also said that doctors and scientists were frightened to come forward to give evidence in the defence of people accused of harming children.
During Letby’s original trial, the prosecution called six experts but the defence did not call any.
Dr Waney Squier, whose own career was ruined when she gave evidence in the appeal case of a shaken baby, said she was not surprised that defence experts had not come forward.
Dr Squier was struck off the medical register after it was ruled she had misled the court over her evidence, but the decision was later overturned after a judge found she had not acted dishonestly.
“I think the fact there were no defence experts reflects what’s been going on in this country and it’s worse than in many places around the world,” she said.
“But there are not doctors who are willing to stand up in defence cases where there are babies and it may be challenging a lot of other people or a mainstream view, because they are frightened of being hounded out of their careers.”
Chester Police and the Countess of Chester Hospital said they could not comment while inquiries were ongoing. The Thirlwall Inquiry is due to look into issues at the hospital.
Lucy Letby: Did She Really Do It? aired at 9pm Channel 5 on Monday and on My5.
