NHS serial killer scandal

Written by David Fletcher 24 Aug 2023
NHS serial killer scandal

Nurse Lucy Letby killed seven babies by force-feeding them with milk or injecting them with air or insulin, and seriously damaged six others who she tried to murder. Dr Stephen Brearey, the lead consultant on the unit where Letby worked, first raised the alarm in October 2015. The first five murders happened between June and October 2015, and - despite months of warnings - the final two were in June 2016. Dr Brearey said senior managerial hospital staff were worried about reputational damage to the organisation. Instead of acting on his warnings, he and his colleagues’ lives were made very difficult. There is ‘no apparent accountability’ for what NHS managers do in trusts. There will now be an inquiry into the magnitude of the event and the questions raised: should NHS managers be regulated in the same way as doctors, and should they be held to account?

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  • Pray: for greater oversight of NHS managers, and for trusts to adopt a ‘freedom to speak’ policy, so that staff can raise concerns, be listened to, and know that actions will be taken. (Proverbs 21:15)