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01
Oct 2023
Harrogate hospital hoping to learn lessons from Lucy Letby murders
Senior figures at Harrogate District Hospital have said they want to learn lessons from the Lucy Letby murders to prevent similar crimes from happening in Harrogate.
Letby is a former neonatal nurse who murdered seven infants and attempted to murder six others at the Countess of Chester Hospital between 2015 and 2016. She was sentenced to a whole life order last month.
Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust’s board met on Wednesday at the Crowne Plaza in Harrogate where the Letby case was top of the agenda.
Emma Nunez, director of nursing and Jacqueline Andrews, executive medical director, gave a presentation that outlined what procedures the hospital has in place to spot patterns of behaviour and how it listens to concerns from staff.
Ms Nunez said:
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She added that the trust has spent time looking at its quality governance, which has included establishing an end-of-life mortality committee to review deaths and prioritising its safeguarding committee.
Ms Nunez said:
Ms Andrews reassured the board that the hospital has the resources to identify anomalies in mortality data which could lead them to investigate potential crimes.
She said:
Several doctors in Chester who worked alongside Letby said they tried to raise the alarm with hospital managers but were ignored.
Ms Nunez said the trust holds weekly talking sessions with staff where they can speak to managers.
She said she believes the trust fosters a culture where staff are able to voice concerns but she admitted there were still members of staff that were difficult to reach.
She said:
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