The former chief executive of the hospital where Lucy Letby murdered seven babies has denied being guilty of “utterly reprehensible behaviour” to keep doctors’ concerns about the nurse from becoming public.
Tony Chambers was continuing to give evidence at the public inquiry into how former nurse Letby, who is serving 15 whole-life sentences for the murder of seven babies and attempted murder of seven others, was able to carry out her crimes at the Countess of Chester Hospital.
Yesterday Mr Chambers offered an apology to the families who had fallen victim to Letby and said his language had been “clumsy” in telling the killer nurse the hospital had “her back”.
Senior doctors have told the Thirlwall Inquiry they felt their concerns that Letby was deliberately harming babies were not taken seriously enough by executives.
‘I should’ve done better’
On his second day of evidence, Mr Chambers denied discussing details of the case with a colleague on a public train.
He also denied discussing potentially ruining the careers of the consultants and reporting them to the General Medical Council if they refused to “move on” from their concerns over Letby.
He told the inquiry: “My character is such that we always had a focus on patient safety and the wellbeing of our staff.”
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On the hospital’s failure to fulfil its duty of candour to parents, he added: “I absolutely acknowledged that we hadn’t got that right. We could have done better, we should have done better. I should have done better.”
Mr Chambers was asked by Richard Baker KC, representing some of the families of the babies, if executives had treated seriously the expertise of consultants over their concerns about Letby.
Mr Chambers said: “They were our experts, they were our doctors and they were the ones that were closest to these issues.
“But equally, what they were presenting, I think it may have been clear in their mind that they were making themselves understood, but in truth it was never quite as explicit as that. It was quite implicit.
“So it was felt that we needed to try and establish the causes because we understood from history that it was always not a simple single thing,” he said, adding: “It was always multi-factorial.”
Mr Baker said: “You sought at every stage to stall and obstruct the police being called or this being made public and ultimately sought to ruin the careers of the consultants who brought this to your attention.
“Now that is utterly reprehensible behaviour and unfitting of a CEO in the NHS isn’t it?”
Mr Chambers replied: “Had that been what I had done then it would be. But I think it’s an outrageous statement and I do not believe it represents my actions.”
Letby is serving life in prison over the crimes committed between June 2015 and June 2016 while working as a nurse in the neonatal unit of the Countess of Chester Hospital.
The inquiry chaired by Lady Justice Thirlwall is expected to hear evidence until early in the new year before issuing a report next autumn.
