{"id":18861,"date":"2024-11-25T19:23:26","date_gmt":"2024-11-25T19:23:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/?p=18861"},"modified":"2024-11-25T19:23:26","modified_gmt":"2024-11-25T19:23:26","slug":"i-had-good-intentions-says-letby-safeguarding-boss-who-failed-to-raise-concerns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/?p=18861","title":{"rendered":"I had good intentions, says Letby safeguarding boss who failed to raise concerns"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n
\"ThirlwallThirlwall Inquiry<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Alison Kelly was asked why she had not considered concerns raised by doctors about Lucy Letby as a safeguarding matter <\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
\n

The head of safeguarding at the hospital where Lucy Letby killed babies has told a public inquiry she had “good intentions”, despite failing to escalate concerns about the nurse.<\/p>\n

Alison Kelly was director of nursing and executive lead for safeguarding at the Countess of Chester Hospital when Letby murdered seven infants and tried to kill seven others. <\/p>\n

Senior consultant Dr Stephen Brearey told Ms Kelly in May 2016 that there were concerns about Letby’s links to unexplained deaths on the unit, the inquiry heard.<\/p>\n

However Ms Kelly said at the time she “just didn’t see it as a safeguarding concern”. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

The Thirlwall Inquiry, which is examining how Letby was able to commit her crimes, heard Ms Kelly did not submit a safeguarding referral to the local safeguarding board until March 2018. <\/p>\n

Giving evidence at Liverpool Town Hall, Ms Kelly said: “There was no articulation of the actual issues, nobody had seen her do anything. <\/p>\n

“There was terms used like ‘gut feeling’ and ‘drawer of doom’ which didn’t pinpoint any issues to do with Letby, so on the basis of that, I didn\u2019t have any facts or evidence that I could base my decisions on.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\"CheshireCheshire Constabulary<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Concerns about Lucy Letby (pictured) did not reach the police until 2017<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
\n

Barrister Nicholas de la Poer KC, counsel to the inquiry, asked why Ms Kelly did not report the concerns raised by doctors to NHS England in July 2016. <\/p>\n

She said the decision not to do so “was a really fine balance” and she saw the concerns reported by doctors as “hearsay”.<\/p>\n

However, she accepted that looking back, it was a safeguarding issue and she should have treated it as such. <\/p>\n

“But neither did anybody else,” Ms Kelly said.<\/p>\n

“I take my duties very, very seriously\u2026 but I was still relying on the teams from the unit upwards to bring any safeguarding concerns to me and nobody did.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

‘I didn’t get everything right’<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
\n

Mr de la Poer asked if she was “deliberately” trying to “withhold” information about someone possibly harming babies. <\/p>\n

Ms Kelly replied: “No, as I have said, on reflection there were actions that I didn\u2019t get right but the actions I did take were done with good intentions.”<\/p>\n

The inquiry heard Ms Kelly’s safeguarding referral came in March 2018, almost a year after Cheshire Police were first called to investigate unexplained deaths and collapses on the unit. <\/p>\n

Ms Kelly accepted the referral was “not detailed enough”. <\/p>\n

Mr de la Poer asked: “Is it because you had a feeling of hostility towards the consultants and you didn\u2019t think the police investigation was going anywhere?”<\/p>\n

Ms Kelly said: “That’s not true.” <\/p>\n

Before questioning began, Ms Kelly asked to make a statement to the inquiry in which she expressed her condolences to all of the families affected. <\/p>\n

“I\u2019m really sorry for all the distress they\u2019ve experienced over the last few years and are currently experiencing as we sit here today,” she said.<\/p>\n

“I didn\u2019t get everything right at the time, however the decisions I made were done with the best intentions.”<\/p>\n

Letby, then 34, was convicted of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder seven others, including two attempts on one infant, between June 2015 and June 2016. <\/p>\n

She is serving 15 whole life sentences. <\/p>\n

The public inquiry is now in its 11th week and is expected to sit until early 2025.<\/p>\n

Its findings will likely be published in autumn next year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\n

Source: <\/em> www.bbc.com\u2026<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thirlwall Inquiry Alison Kelly was asked why she had not considered concerns raised by doctors about Lucy Letby as a safeguarding matter The head of safeguarding at the hospital where Lucy Letby killed babies has told a public inquiry she had “good intentions”, despite failing to escalate concerns about the nurse. Alison Kelly was director […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18861","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18861"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18861\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}