Lucy Letby’s former boss has admitted she “didn’t get everything right at the time” but insisted the decisions she made “were done with the best intentions”.
Alison Kelly, who was the director of nursing at the Countess of Chester Hospital where Letby murdered seven babies and attempted to kill seven others, is giving evidence at the Thirwall Inquiry.
Ms Kelly said: “I would like to express my condolences to all the families and I’m really sorry for all the distress they’ve experienced over the last few years and are currently experiencing as we sit here today.
“I didn’t get everything right at the time, however the decisions I made were done with the best intentions.
“I do really appreciate having the opportunity to be part of this inquiry and share my reflections and to contribute to recommendations going forwards.”
Ms Kelly also accepted that when concerns about the rise in mortality on the neonatal unit were brought to her in May and June 2016, “it just didn’t feel like a safeguarding concern to me”.
She told the inquiry the consultants who brought their concerns to her didn’t fully articulate what those concerns were.
Letby’s former boss, who was also the executive lead for safeguarding at the time, continued: “There was no articulation of the actual issues, nobody had seen her do anything.
“There was terms used like ‘gut feeling’ and ‘drawer of doom’ which didn’t pinpoint any issues to do with Letby so on the basis of that I didn’t have any facts or evidence that I could base my decisions on.”
Ms Kelly added: “I take my duties very, very seriously. I was still relying on the teams from the unit upwards to bring any safeguarding concerns to me and nobody did.”
Lucy Letby was convicted of murdering seven infants and attempting the murder of seven others between June 2015 and June 2016.
She came under investigation after a high number of unexpected infant deaths which occurred at the neonatal unit of the Countess of Chester Hospital three years after she began working there.
