Letby hospital failed to assure patients it was safe after verdict
Posted 14 February 2024 - 13:28
CQC says failures included inadequate nurse staffing levels and compromised patient safety, but there were 'encouraging' improvements in maternity services
The hospital trust where Lucy Letby committed her crimes has been told it failed to assure patients and the public that its services were safe, effective and well-led following the court verdicts on the former nurse.
Inspectors from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) carried out unannounced inspections in October and November at the Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, where Letby had worked as a nurse in the neonatal unit. Letby received a whole life sentence after a trial that ended in August 2023, in which she was found guilty of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder six more between June 2015 and June 2016.
Failures include neglecting to respond to warning letters and ‘normalisation of corridor care’
In a report published on 14 February the CQC lists a number of failures at the trust, including neglecting to respond to the commission’s warning letters, failing to comply with safe nurse staffing levels in urgent care, and ‘normalisation of corridor care.’
Inspectors rated the trust overall as ‘requires improvement’, with urgent and emergency care rated as ‘inadequate’. The CQC considered using its urgent enforcement powers to ensure patient safety, but the trust took immediate action, making this unnecessary, it said.
They also found that infection control in some areas was sometimes poor, and ‘clinical environments and equipment were not always clean and fit for purpose.’ Mandatory training rates were low in several areas and for specific courses, including resuscitation and safeguarding training, their report said.
However, the inspectors noted that staff treated patients with kindness and compassion and said when they visited the neonatal department they found staff were ‘committed to providing excellent care under difficult circumstances.’
Significant risks were found in urgent and emergency care, says CQC
CQC director of operations in the north Ann Ford said: ‘We identified significant risk in urgent and emergency care. There weren’t enough staff to provide safe care and people were being cared for in inappropriate settings without mitigations in place to manage these risks. People receiving care in corridors had become normalised – this compromised people’s safety, privacy and dignity.
'Due to our concerns in urgent and emergency care, we considered using our urgent enforcement powers. However, following feedback to the trust, they took immediate action to reduce risk to people, which meant we didn’t need to use our enforcement powers. We also carried out a follow-up visit where we found further improvements, although some concerns remained.’
She said there had been some ‘encouraging’ improvements in maternity services at the Countess of Chester Hospital, where processes had been improved to increase safety for women and their babies. ‘We want to see rapid widespread improvements and we’ll continue to monitor the trust to make sure people are safe while that’s happening and return to check on their progress.’
Trust says its teams are delivering improvements every week
The CQC said the trust had undergone a huge overhaul in governance in recent times, with three new chief executives and three new chairs in the three-year period leading up to the inspection, which had ‘created instability’ at a senior level.
The trust’s director of nursing and quality Sue Pemberton said: ‘We know we have much more to do and our teams are actively delivering improvements every week. We are focused and will remain so until our services are consistently back to the standards our patients expect them to be.
‘Treating our patients with compassion and kindness is a core value for our staff and it is testament to them that this was recognised by the CQC throughout their inspection.’
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