Nurses have written an open letter to Sir Keir Starmer warning that the Lucy Letby case has left them “terrified” to continue working in the NHS in case they are wrongly blamed for deaths in their care.
Lucy Letby was convicted of the murders of seven newborns and the attempted murders of six other infants at the Countess of Chester Hospital Credit: Cheshire Constabulary/PA
The group of 19 nurses has come together to argue that the recent convictions of Lucy Letby had “implications” for the nursing profession.
They have called for the Government to establish a Royal commission to conduct a forensic examination of the evidence presented in the case.
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.
‘Blamed for a failing system’
The letter reads: “As a collective group of nurses both registered and retired, we write this open letter to Prime Minister Keir Starmer to communicate our growing concerns regarding the evidence presented and used to convict Miss Letby.
“All of us are worried that this conviction is unsafe and as a result we and many of our colleagues are now terrified to continue working in the NHS as we believe that next time it could be one of us who is blamed for a failing system.
“We believe that flawed and unreliable scientific evidence was used to convict Ms Letby, and this is having a huge impact on the nursing profession.”
Nurses open letter regarding the conviction of Lucy Letby
Request for full forensic review of the evidence used in the Letby case
Dear Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer,
As a collective of registered and retired nurses, medical professionals, and healthcare professionals, we write this open Letter to Prime Minister Keir Starmer to communicate our growing concerns regarding the evidence presented and used to convict Ms Lucy Letby. Over the last months and weeks our concerns surrounding the trials of Ms Letby have been echoed by medical experts, eminent statisticians, scientists, respected investigative journalists, other health care professionals and the public.
Many of us have carefully studied the evidence presented in court with some of us attending the court hearings in person. But all of us are worried that this conviction is unsafe and as a result we and many of our colleagues are now terrified to continue working in the NHS as we believe that next time it could be one of us who blamed for a failing system. We believe that flawed and unreliable scientific evidence was used to convict Ms Letby, and this is having a huge impact on the Nursing profession. As reported recently, in The Telegraph, nurses have been warned by trusts not to speak out about the case or they may lose their jobs. This fear as well as the potential for being demonised, trolled and being labelled conspiracy theorists means that our voices are not being heard.
We are all unified in offering our condolences to the families who have suffered tremendous loss or harm to their babies in this case. We want truth for all families involved and we believe that there are some families who have concerns about sub-optimal care on the Maternity/Neonatal Unit, not just out the Countess of Chester, but in units across the U.K.
Today like every day, we take our Duty of Candour seriously and have taken this more protected route to speak out and urge the Government to order a Royal commission/Independent review of the medical evidence used to convict Miss Letby.
Our key areas of concern:
The Royal college of Paediatrics and Child Health report (2016) carried out by the Trust after the spike in deaths was never explored or shown to the jury. It clearly outlined, higher activity with higher risk babies, staffing shortages, insufficient Consultant presence and ward rounds and a reluctance of medical staff to seek senior support.
The staff chart presented to the jury was misleading and offered a very selective picture of presence on shift for deaths and collapses, with 6 or more deaths in the indictment period which were left off the chart, which have been revealed through a Freedom of Information request. When the Prosecution KC repeatedly told the jury that there were 7 deaths and Lucy Letby was ‘there’ for all of them, this was extremely misleading.
Clear evidence of suboptimal care on the unit needs to be acknowledged and investigated as many believe that it may have been an important factor in several of the deaths and collapses.
Protocols for blood sampling for the insulin cases were clearly not followed, rendering the test invalid. Other medical explanations were never properly explored. The laboratory itself states any test for exogenous insulin requires the blood to undergo a second test at a more specialist laboratory in Guildford. This was never done. No forensic testing was ever carried out and therefore unreliable results which should never have been admissible were shown to the jury.
During the trial experts repeatedly misrepresented the health state of the babies, repeatedly describing them as ‘well’ and ‘stable’ when many of them were extremely premature and vulnerable. Most of the babies required respiratory support and ventilation and other medical interventions, some were being treated for infections. Their risk of their conditions was minimized by the Chester Consultants, the expert witnesses for the Prosecution and the Prosecution counsel.
Eminent Neonatologist Dr Shoo Lee gave very clear and impressive evidence in the Appeal hearing in May 2024, in which clearly rebutted the Air emboli hypothesis that had been presented by the prosecution expert witnesses. The Appeal court judges refused to accept this evidence claiming that it should have been used in the main trial. The truth is the truth and will always remain the truth. What has been heard cannot be unheard. The high scientific standards were not met by the prosecution witnesses, and not built on credible scientific fact.
In the retrial in June 2024, it became clear that the swipe entry data, which built a timeline of opportunity was in fact incorrect. The Jury in the first trial unaware of this information when deliberating the verdicts. Also, medical notes had been incorrectly placed in the wrong date order, which also became clear in the retrial.
There was no direct evidence to link Miss Letby to causing any physical harm, the case was built on a weak foundation of circumstantial and ambiguous evidence.
Expert witnesses in this case gave unscientific testimonies, offering what we know as nurses to be extremely implausible. Other causes of death/collapse were not
properly explored by the Police or the prosecution who set out to prove that Lucy Letby must have caused the harm and deaths. No methodology or detail was given at any stage as to how they reached their conclusions or why other potential causes such as substandard care, hygiene issues and natural course of illness had been ruled out.
Since reporting restrictions have been lifted, multiple media outlets have published detailed articles presenting serious concerns with the reliability of the evidence used to convict Ms Letby.
With respect we request, a scientifically rigorous Royal Commission/Independent review where real experts, such as forensic pathologists, medical specialists, and scientists can conduct a detailed and meticulous forensic assessment to re-examine the evidence in this troubling case. We believe this is crucial for nurses, and healthcare practitioners alike, so that we can feel confident and safe in our work.
We also encourage the formation of a specialised cross party task force, dedicated to investigating the procedural irregularities that have been exposed by the media. We are unified as a country in our belief of a fair and open justice system, the trial of Ms Letby has undermined our collective faith, and we urge act now to restore the public confidence in the Justice system. For now, many nurses and healthcare professionals do not have that confidence.
Yours sincerely,
19 Nurses
Signatures will be supplied on Request from The Prime Minister.
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The nurses said they had a “duty of candour” to speak out about their concerns and have called for a forensic review or Royal commission and cross-party working group to be established to look into the case.
The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) states that nurses, midwives, and nursing associates have a professional duty of candour to be open and honest with patients and their families when something goes wrong with their care.
The nurses raise nine areas of concern about the case, including the fact that a report by the The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) from 2016 – which outlined failings in the neonatal unit – was never shown to the jury.
The report highlighted short staffing and that the unit was dealing with more premature babies than usual during the period in 2015 and 2016 when death rates spiked.
“Clear evidence of suboptimal care on the unit needs to be acknowledged and investigated as many believe that it may have been an important factor in several of the deaths and collapses,” the nurses write.
Several scientists and doctors have questioned the evidence presented in Lucy Letby's case Credit: Chester Standard
“During the trial experts repeatedly misrepresented the health state of the babies, repeatedly describing them as ‘well’ and ‘stable’ when many of them were extremely premature and vulnerable.
“Most of the babies required respiratory support and ventilation and other medical interventions, some were being treated for infections.
“We request a truly independent Royal commission/review where real experts in the field are able to conduct a detailed and meticulous assessment to re-examine this troubling case.
“We believe this is crucial for nurses like us to feel confident and safe in our work.”
‘Nurses resigning from baby units’
In a recent Channel 5 documentary re-examining the Letby case, Dr Svilena Dimitrova, a consultant neonatologist, warned that nurses are resigning from Britain’s baby units because they fear being accused of harming infants.
Dr Dimitrova, who works as a medical reviewer for the Ockenden independent review of maternity services at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, said NHS problems were “endemic” and nurses were frightened they could be scapegoated for failing wards.
Speaking of the Letby conviction on the programme, Dr Dimitrova, who is not linked to the letter, said: “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.”
The nurses who signed the letter come from across Britain, but have chosen to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals from their trusts. They have shown their NMC registration numbers to The Telegraph to verify their positions.
‘Hypotheses were implausible’
Last month this paper reported how nurses were warned by NHS trusts not to talk about the case or give evidence on Letby’s behalf.
The nurse who is acting as spokeswoman for the group said: “The group was formed so that we could discuss the case in safety, and we looked at each case individually, keeping a very open mind.
“And after each case it became apparent that we were talking about babies born barely viable for life, with pre-existing congenital medical conditions as well as a lot of sub-optimal care.
“The hypotheses put forward by the prosecution were just implausible and the way suboptimal care was played down in court is horrifying and it needs to be addressed.”
She added: “People are afraid because they can see how easily this can happen.
“At one point in my career I was a nurse specialist and I was working an 80-hour week and living in the nurses home and I would be called in all the time. If there had been a cluster of deaths the finger would have pointed at me. And clusters do happen.”
Lucy Letby verdict: ‘There’s a chance this is a terrible miscarriage of justice’ As experts take a closer look at the evidence, Telegraph readers weigh in on Lucy Letby’s guilty verdict Telegraph Readers 11 July 2024 • 9:01am Related Topics Lucy Letby, Crime, NHS (National Health Service), Murder 276 Some readers voice concerns the evidence used to convict Letby was unreliable After Lucy Letby was found guilty of seven murders and seven attempted murders , questions have started to emerge about some of the evidence used to convict the former nurse. On Tuesday, The Telegraph examined the concerns in the arguments used to convict Letby. In response, Telegraph readers weighed in on the guilty verdict. ‘Ms Letby has been let down all round’ Some readers believe the evidence used to convict Letby was unreliable. For example, Stephanie Findlay said: “There seems to be a problem when experts give probabilities. A juror has to be conv...
My Lucy Letby ‘drawer of doom’ was getting full, consultant admits Dr Stephen Brearey one of the first people to spot a link between the nurse and the deaths of babies in 2015 and 2016 1 Dr Stephen Brearey was a consultant at the Countess of Chester Hospital where Lucy Letby worked as a neonatal nurse Sarah Knapton Science Editor 19 November 2024 3:26pm GMT A doctor at Lucy Letby ’s hospital has admitted his “drawer of doom” containing the death records of babies was getting full during her time there. Dr Stephen Brearey , a consultant at the Countess of Chester Hospital, was one of the first people to spot a link between Letby and the deaths of babies in 2015 and 2016. Giving evidence at the Thirlwall Inquiry – which is looking into how the attacks might have been prevented – Dr Brearey admitted he had a “drawer of doom” which was “getting full” under Letby’s watch. Earlier in the hearing, Karen Rees, the head of nursing at the Countess of Chester, said Dr Brea...
Letby shift data was scientifically worthless, statisticians warn Meeting of experts hears the rota pattern used to convict the nurse was a ‘scientific fake’ and other factors could explain the deaths Lucy Letby was convicted of the murders of seven newborns and the attempted murders of six other infants Chester Standard/SWNS Sarah Knapton Science Editor 20 September 2024 6:24pm Shift pattern data used in the Lucy Letby trial was “scientifically worthless” a meeting of the Royal Statistical Society has heard. One of the most damning pieces of evidence presented to the jury at Letby’s trial was a chart indicating that the nurse was always on duty at the Countess of Chester Hospital when babies collapsed or died. The table, which covered a 13-month period between June 2015 and June 2016, showed that while the 38 other nurses were in attendance on just a handful of occasions when suspicious incidents occurred, Letby was at the scene of all of them. Howe...
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