This news story is absolutely harrowing, both in the details of the crime and the resulting fallout that we see in the aftermath. Neonatal nurse Lucy Letby, a woman charged with caring for premature or ill babies, has been given a whole life sentence for murdering seven infants in her care.
This woman will rightfully never see freedom again, and she will forever be spoken of alongside Myra Hindley and Rose West for her crimes. But, as with many stories of malpractice in the NHS, much of this could’ve been prevented. And a lot of people need to be sharing a cell with Letby.
I wrote an article a while back on the wonderful Mr Eljamel, health advisor to the SNP, head of Neuroscience in Ninewells Hospital and a surgeon with over 100 people left injured, sometimes permanently, because of this man’s horrific lack of competency.
His failings were brought to the attention of the health board, but they decided against taking action, instead allowing him to continue ruining lives. Well, it’s the same story in the case of Letby, this time with very young children being the victims.
In June 2016, after unexplained infant deaths within the Countess of Chester Hospital neonatal unit, consultants decided to remove Letby from frontline duties. They had determined that she was present when two babies out of a set of triplets died within 24 hours of each other, deaths that were “not medically explicable.” Within a month of this removal, it appears the hospital fought hard to get the nurse back on the unit, completely disregarding the concerns of the neonatal doctors Stephen Brearey and John Gibbs.
Indeed, for the best part of a year, the hospital seemed less interested in the potential harm she was causing and more worried about getting her back to work. Dr Gibbs said in court, “Over the next 11 months, we had to resolutely resist repeated attempts by management to have Staff Nurse Letby come back to the unit.” They even went to the level of requesting CCTV be installed in every room of the unit.
Dr Brearey has been quoted as saying, “Bosses with sociology degrees are making life and death decisions” when talking about the seriousness of the situation. He has gone further, suggesting the NHS executives be held accountable for the decisions, and he is right.
These people are paid massive sums of money to run our hospitals; if they’re letting someone like Letby carry on in frontline medicine, despite senior colleagues’ warnings, they should bear a considerable chunk of responsibility. The fact that they don’t, as in the case of NHS Tayside and Mr Eljamel, is outrageous. Why are these people screened from responsibility for their actions?
I have had only good experiences with neonatal staff and the care they give. But as a parent of children in these units, you have to trust these staff with the most precious and delicate thing you have, your child. You need to know they are doing everything possible to look after your baby. And to look at her, Letby looks like she fits this mould.
The idea that a nurse working in neonatal can be a monster like this, it’s a terrifying thought. This WILL rock people’s confidence in the NHS, especially knowing that it could’ve been avoided and that the hospital actively worked to ensure Letby had every opportunity to carry out her evil.
Another factor we must consider about this case is the media attention this will garner. This is a massive story due to the nature of her crimes. But, because she will be categorised as ‘White’, we will never hear the end of this story.
Eljamel is off the radar. No one in the mainstream talks about this doctor who left physical and mental pain and suffering in his wake. No one talks about him. But they will speak about Letby.
Permanently offended “Dr” Shola Mos, something or other has said that concerns about Letby would’ve been taken more seriously if she wasn’t ‘White’. This is typical rhetoric from this woman, and as usual, it’s a load of nonsense. Concerns were raised about Mr Eljamel in Ninewells, concerns that were ignored. And given the constant state of ‘minority’ outrage over many things, the idea that anyone would criticise them is ludicrous.
People fear for their jobs, pensions etc., due to the backlash of ever criticising one of the multitudes of privileged and protected ‘characteristics’. Shola being given constant media opportunities when she is roundly hated is a perfect example of this.
But this isn’t something we should put up with in our country. We shouldn’t have to have people guilt us by association because we have the same skin colour as Letby. We shouldn’t have to defend our people against race grifters like Shola.
But more importantly, people operating in the NHS need to see the inside of a prison cell for what they have allowed to happen in the case of Letby. When people raise concerns about a staff member, especially when harm has come to someone, these concerns need to be heeded. If not, consequences need to be enforced.
An honest government, concerned with its people’s health and well-being, would ensure that people making the big choices and being paid the big bucks are held to the highest standards to provide the best care possible. The Tories, Labour, and the SNP do not care—time for a new political party that puts its people first in their homeland.
