chapter six
CHAPTER SIX. THE INADEQUATE UNIT.
The babies who died or sickened when Lucy Letby was on the unit were victims not of a serial killer, but rather victims of a failing NHS. Before I detail the systemic failings of the hospital and unit where Lucy Letby worked, I will recount a few of my own personal experiences with The NHS which indicate the level of crisis that it is currently experiencing.
A friend (a lady) asked me to accompany her to the A and E in the local hospital. She thought that she might have had a stroke. We took a minicab to the hospital, and explained the problem to the receptionist. We were told to take a seat. Five hours later, she was given a scan. They decided that she had indeed had a stroke. They called for an ambulance to take her to a specialist stroke unit at another hospital. Two hours later the ambulance arrived. They wheeled the patient to the ambulance, and strapped us both in. Then (and this is amusing – in a horrible kind of way!) they had the sirens and the blue flashing lights – lords of the highway! When we arrived at the hospital we had to join a queue of EIGHT other ambulances, who could not disgorge their passengers, because there were no available beds! We would have to wait until patients were discharged! (If this were a film, they would fire the script writer, due to the implausibility of the plot!) I asked the ambulance crew if I would have time to go off and get a bag of chips at the local chippy. I was told – “Oh, no problem. It will be several hours in this queue!”. Four hours later, the patient was finally admitted to the stroke unit. During this four hours, I chatted to the very friendly ambulance crew. I especially remember one remark by the driver. She told me (and I quote verbatim) “The NHS is broken”! This is “from the horse’s mouth”. An ambulance driver is in a unique position to know the state of The NHS.
I have accompanied friends to A and E a number of times; and the average waiting time (always on hard uncomfortable chairs in a crowded waiting room) is about EIGHT HOURS!
As regards my own health, I had a sebaceous cyst. I went to the doctor. He inserted a syringe into the cyst to try and draw out fluid. Two days later the cyst was severely inflamed, due to this (absolutely incorrect) treatment. I went again to the doctor’s surgery. This time (fortunately) I saw a different doctor. This doctor was extremely alarmed. He wrote me a doctor’s note, and urged me to go immediately to A and E at the local hospital. Apparently, my life was at risk if I delayed! I went to A and E, where they (finally) operated, with a successful outcome. The point is that the first doctor nearly killed me!
I accompanied a friend to a gynaecological examination in a London hospital. The doctor said that she would just go to get a speculum. She came back, and explained that she couldn’t find one. The examination had to be called off. (I kid you not!) A speculum is a standard item of equipment in gynaecology.
Here is a quote from The (London) Metro February 3rd, 2025, page 4:- Almost one in five people in England have received or witnessed NHS care being delivered in areas such as corridors or waiting rooms in the last six months.
Here are quotes from the book What Doctors Don’t Tell you, by Lynne McTaggart, published by Thorsons, 1996, pages 5 and 6:- “If you are in hospital, there’s a one in six chance that you landed there because of some modern medical treatment gone wrong”. - - - - (If you are in hospital) “you’ve got an eight percent chance of being killed or injured by the staff”. “About 1.17 million Britons end up in hospital each year because of doctor error or a bad reaction to a drug. - - - - Over one million Americans are being injured in hospital every year, and 180,000 die as a result”.
I could recount multiple further incidents to show that The NHS is “broken” – but now let’s look at the state of the particular hospital and ward where Lucy Letby worked.
Here is a quote from the book Baby Killer 2. Is Lucy Letby Innocent, by Stu Armsrong, ISBN 9798301688835, printed by Amazon. (I strongly recommend this book.)
Pages 84 to 88:- Dr Rachel Simmons (a former colleague of Lucy Letby in the neonatal unit at The Countess of Chester Hospital) stated in an interview that “equipment failures contributed to adverse outcomes”. She commented on “gaps in leadership.”
Pages 22 to 24:- Advocate journalist Sarah Kendrick mentioned a specific case in which a death attributed to Letby involved a “KNOWN FAULT” in the unit’s ventilators. (My capitals.)
Here is a quote from The Daily Mirror, February 5th, 2025, page 4:- Neonatology specialist Doctor Shoo Lee, Professor Emeritus at The University of Toronto stated that The Countess of Chester Hospital was so bad that it would have been shut down if it were in Canada. He listed problems with the unit. Poor resuscitation skills, poor skill at inserting breathing tubes, misdiagnoses, serious problems relating to medical care, a lack of teamwork,
Here are some quotes from Private Eye Special Report. The Lessons of The Lucy Letby Case, by Doctor Phil Hammond. MD. (available online.)
Private Eye Report, Part 1:- The Chester unit is outdated and cramped - - - sewage backed up into the toilets and sinks - - - There was only one neonatal specialist on the unit. Blood tests and X-rays were not assessed for seven hours. Staff were chronically overworked. Things are “at breaking point”. The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health stated – “insufficient senior cover”. The Care Quality Control stated that the unit was understaffed, and lacked storage space.
Private Eye Report, Part 4:- A damning report (of the unit) by The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health was never brought to the attention of the jury.
Private Eye Report, Part 6:- Highly experienced neonatologist Doctor Jane Hawdon saw the case notes for 17 babies. She stated “major or significant suboptimal care” for 14 of these babies.
Private Eye Report, Part 6:- The Hospital Management should have stuck to Level One (ie:- babies that are not very vulnerable). Instead, they upgraded the unit to Level Two (ie:- babies that were very vulnerable) (My comment:- They did not have the capability to cope with Level Two babies. That is why there was a spike in infant deaths.)
Private Eye Report, Part 6:- (On the unit) “A scene of complete chaos”, “absolute pandemonium”, “I saw a nurse Googling a procedure, a lung drain”. The gas machine on the neonatal unit was broken.
Private Eye Report, Part 9:- Doctor Jayaram (one of Lucy Letby’s accusers) admitted that the unit was short staffed, had only two scheduled consultant ward rounds a week, and was an infection risk, due to cramped conditions, and sewerage leak problems.
Private Eye Report, Part 15:- Doctor Shoo Lee convened a “dream team” of neonatology experts to assess the medical records of the babies, and to assess the hospital’s performance. This panel found fourteen problems with the medical care on the unit (which are all separately listed in The Private Eye report). These include failure to consider previous obstetric history, ignoring infection risks, misdiagnosis, dealing with very vulnerable infants that were beyond the unit’s capability to deal with, poor skills, lack of knowledge of operating the equipment etc.
The following quotes are from the article in The New Yorker (issue for May 20th, 2024) by Rachel Aviv, entitled – A Reporter at Large – Conviction.
Page 36:- Doctor Stephen Brearey, the head of the unit stated “Neonatal intensive care - - - requires more equipment which we have little space for.”
Page 37:- One baby, doctors later acknowledged, should have been given antibiotics immediately – but waited four hours.
Page 38:- One paediatrician stated “at several points we ran out of vital equipment”.
Page 49:- The hospital has seen a spike in adverse events in the maternity unit. The care Quality Commission discovered 21 incidents (in the hospital) in which 13 patients had been endangered.
The following quote is from the book Lucy is Innocent, by Paul Bamford, SECOND EDITION, ISBN number 9798326484130. (I strongly recommend this book.)
Page 55:- In the case of baby H, a chest drain had to be sent from another hospital.
Page 346:- Baby C. A doctor took eleven minutes to arrive for CPR for the baby.
Pages 58 to 66:- the RCPCH (The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health) report stated that the consultant presence on the unit was inadequate.
Here is a comment from a U-Tube video
(The) Amazing Academics (U-Tube series). Serial Killers and Statistical Blunders - Why Lucy Letby might be wrongly imprisoned: John O'Quigley
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbN6j-IPQAU
Professor John O’Quigley, Professor of Statistics at University College, London states as follws:-
QUOTE:- “The consultants were supposed to do two rounds a day, but they were only doing two rounds a week.”
Here are some quotes from The Daily Telegraph, February 5th, 2025, page 4:- The panel of international experts in neonatology under Doctor Shoo Lee commented on the unit and on the hospital. These comments include the following:- Disregard for warnings about bacteria. Misdiagnosis. Delays in diagnosis. Poor resuscitation skills. Lack of knowledge about equipment. Sometimes trauma during intubation. Lack of teamwork and trust between health professionals.
Here are some quotes from a U-Tube video
Lucy Letby: What The Jury Didn't Know
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wqe4dEuK128&t=601s
The Countess of Chester Hospital was rated fifth worst in the NHS for recognising and treating sepsis. Only one in three got treatment fast enough.
The hospital hired a solicitor to protect them against being sued for negligence. The solicitor advised them that, for one child, the failure to give antibiotics was “indefensible”.
The unit’s blood gas machine was faulty, giving incorrect readings for critical tests.
The consultants only came to the unit twice weekly, not twice daily, as they should have done.
My comment:- What this all boils down to is that deaths and collapses on the unit were due to an inadequate unit, and inadequate care – not to a serial killer stalking the wards. Most of the inadequacies of the unit were never made clear to the jury.