NHS boss denies he 'discouraged' Letby investigation

THE hospital boss in charge when Lucy Letby murdered seven babies in its neonatal unit yesterday denied he had tried to avoid a criminal investigation.

- Kim Pilling

Tony Chambers was chief executive of the Countess of Chester when the nurse went on her killing spree in 2015 and 2016.

Giving evidence at the Thirlwall Inquiry into the events surrounding Letby’s horrific crimes, he said he first learned of consultant paediatricians’ fears that she may be harming babies when he met them in June 2016.

Letby was redeployed to an administrative role.

Difficulty

But hospital bosses then opted to commission a series of reviews to look at the increased mortality in the unit. It meant Letby was due to return to the wards weeks before police were finally called in to the hospital in May 2017.