The parents of an extremely vulnerable newborn baby girl said they were disgusted to find her “covered in her own excrement” while in the care of nurse Lucy Letby.
The investigation into the murder of two babies at the Countess of Chester Hospital has revealed that one of the babies, born in October 2015, had a stoma fitted as well as a catheter called a Broviac line.
The baby girl, known as Child J, was deemed at high risk of infection after intestinal surgery and had suffered multiple unexpected and unexplained fainting spells in the hospital's neonatal ward, the Thirlwall Inquiry reported on Monday.
The mother said she found her six-week-old daughter lying in her cot with her stoma removed and her lower body loosely covered in a soiled towel.
“I took one look at her and I was just so disgusted to see her in that situation and as a mother in that situation I thought, 'What happened?' and it just made me so sad,” she said.
The mother said the behaviour showed a “lack of consideration and humanity towards a child recovering from surgery” and that there was a “high risk” of infection because of the Broviac line.
J's father said he and the couple had complained the same day about their daughter being left “covered in her own excrement”, but were told by ward manager Eilean Powell that she was “tired and stressed and should consider going home”.
He said they found this “quite annoying” and “condescending”. His partner added: “They really didn't acknowledge what had happened. It was really quite frustrating – that it had been flipped out, that it was us who had been the ones to challenge it.”
J's parents said they were never informed of the outcome of their complaint and only found out recently, eight years later, that Letoby was their daughter's nurse on her Dec. 15, 2015 shift.
Letby, who is serving a life sentence after being convicted of murdering seven infants and attempting to murder seven more, was charged with the attempted murder of Child J but after a 10-month trial at Manchester Crown Court last year the jury was unable to reach a verdict.
The couple told Judge Thirlwall they had a series of concerns about their daughter's care on the neonatal unit. They praised consultants Dr John Gibbs and Dr Stephen Brearley but also said they had “stretched themselves out of their roles” and their concerns were ignored by nurses.
The inquest heard that Baby J was born at the Countess of Chester Hospital and was transferred to Alder Hey Hospital in Liverpool for intestinal surgery before being returned to the Countess.
The parents contrasted the “meticulous attention to detail” at Alder Hey with their experience at Countess, where they felt J was not monitored as closely and that nurses were too busy so he sometimes missed feedings.
J was recovering well, but experienced multiple sudden fainting episodes that doctors initially could not explain.
Letby, now 34, was later charged with causing one of those collapses, but a jury was unable to reach a verdict in the Nov. 27, 2015 incident.
The parents told the inquiry they refused to take J back to Countess of Chester Hospital after he was taken to St Mary's Hospital, Manchester, in December 2015 after another unexpected collapse.
The family said they were never informed of the results of the investigation into Child J.'s collapse and feared for years that he had an undiagnosed condition that was causing life-threatening seizures.
Child J's father told the inquiry it was “absurd and inconceivable” that Dr Letby was transferred in July 2016 to a role focusing on patient safety, despite concerns from colleagues that he was deliberately harming the baby.
The mother of another newborn baby who had been attacked by Mr Letoby subsequently demanded “accountability” from hospital bosses.
In a retrial this year, Letby was found guilty of the attempted murder of Child K after the jury was unable to reach a verdict in the original trial.
The baby was born 15 weeks premature and a former neonatal nurse is said to have tampered with its breathing tube, causing a life-threatening deterioration. The baby was resuscitated and taken to Arrowe Park Hospital in Wirral, but died three days later. Letby was initially charged with the baby's murder, but the prosecution later found there was insufficient evidence.
K's mother told the inquiry that hospital bosses should have acted sooner when doctors raised concerns about the nurses. “They need to be held personally accountable,” she said, adding that senior managers at other organisations face “fines or prison” if they fail to protect vulnerable lives.
She added: “It's wrong that no one takes responsibility and assumes any accountability, because it will happen again.”
