Bury hospital trust suspends NHS manager following Lucy Letby trial

The Northern Care Alliance - which runs Fairfield General Hospital in Bury as well as the Rochdale Infirmary, Salford Royal, Royal Oldham Hospital, and North Manchester General Hospital - employs Alison Kelly as the Director of Nursing in its Rochdale Care Organisation.

Ms Kelly was the director of nursing and quality at the Countess of Chester Hospital at the time Lucy Letby, the most prolific child serial killer in modern British history, carried out her attacks.

Letby murdered seven babies and tried to kill six more while working at the Countess of Chester Hospital neonatal unit between 2015 and 2016.

She used various ways to harm the babies, including injecting air into the bloodstream, injecting air into the stomach, overfeeding with milk, physical assaults and poisoning with insulin.

Following the conviction of Letby, the Countess of Chester Hospital is now facing increased scrutiny.

The hospital’s neonatal unit head consultant, Dr Stephen Brearey, blew the whistle on Letby in June 2015.

He told the Guardian newspaper the hospital had been “negligent” in its handling of the killings, arguing that further deaths could have been avoided if the leadership had ‘responded appropriately’.

Dr Brearey commissioned an independent neonatologist from Liverpool Women’s Hospital to analyse the increased mortality rate.

In June 2015, Dr Brearey conducted an informal review into the circumstances of the death of Child D that month.

An “association” with Letby and her presence at a number of collapses up to that point were noted, the court heard.

Lucy Letby (Image: PA)

Dr Brearey told the court a meeting followed with director of nursing Alison Kelly in late June or early July 2015 to discuss this review.

A further thematic review, conducted by an independent neonatologist based at Liverpool Women's Hospital concluded in February 2016.

The review, requested by Dr Brearey, did not identify a reason for the rise in deaths, but concerns remained about Letby as a “common link” during all the collapses and deaths.

Ms Kelly has come under fire after Dr Brearey sent copies of the report to her and medical director Ian Harvey, with fellow consultant Dr Ravi Jayaram telling the court that there was no response from bosses for another three months.

He said in court: “We were stuck because we had concerns and didn’t know what to do. In retrospect, I wished we had bypassed them and gone straight to the police.”

He added: “We were also beginning to get a reasonable amount of pressure from senior management at the hospital not to make a fuss.”

The Letby trial, held in Manchester Crown Court, heard from consultant Dr John Gibbs that a “tipping point” was reached in June 2016, with the deaths of two triplet boys, Child O and P, on successive days.

Letby was re-assigned to desk work the following month. Police were only contacted in 2017.

In a statement, Nicky Clarke, chief people officer at Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust, said: “I can confirm Alison Kelly has been suspended. We are unable to comment any further at this moment in time.”

Former Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust chief executive Tony Chambers, who was in charge at the time, said he would co-operate “fully and openly” with the inquiry.

Dr Nigel Scawn, medical director at the Countess of Chester Hospital, said in a statement on Friday: “Since Lucy Letby worked at our hospital, we have made significant changes to our services and I want to provide reassurance to every patient that may access our services that they can have confidence in the care that they will receive.”

The medical director at Countess of Chester Hospital, Dr Nigel Scawn, reads a statement outside the hospital after nurse Lucy Letby, 33, was found guilty at Manchester Crown Court (Image: Jacob King/PA Wire)

But he walked away without answering as a journalist asked: “Why did hospital managers try to stop Lucy Letby from being investigated?”