Alison Kelly: Former nursing manager at Letby hospital suspended

A senior manager in charge of nursing when Lucy Letby murdered and seriously injured babies has been suspended.

Alison Kelly and other managers at the Countess of Chester Hospital have been accused of ignoring warnings about Letby.

Ms Kelly, director of nursing for Rochdale Care Organisation, part of the Northern Care Alliance, has since been suspended "in light of information" that emerged during the trial.

Letby was jailed for life on Monday.

The former nurse was found guilty on Friday of murdering seven babies and attempting to kill six other infants following a 10-month trial.

Letby deliberately injected babies with air, force fed others milk and poisoned two of the infants with insulin.

The BBC spoke to the lead consultant at the neonatal unit where Letby worked, who said hospital bosses failed to investigate allegations and tried to silence doctors.

Dr Stephen Brearey first raised concerns about Letby in October 2015. No action was taken and she went on to attack five more babies, killing two.

The hospital also delayed calling the police despite months of warnings that the nurse may have been killing babies.

The government has ordered an independent inquiry into the circumstances behind Letby's "horrific" baby murders.

"We welcome the independent inquiry announced by the Department of Health and Social Care into the events at the Countess of Chester and will cooperate fully to help ensure all lessons are learned," an NHS England spokesperson said on Monday.

"In light of information that has emerged during the trial of Lucy Letby, and the announcement of the independent inquiry, the Northern Care Alliance has suspended Alison Kelly."

Ms Kelly is the director of nursing for Rochdale Care Organisation, part of the Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust, which runs five hospitals in the Manchester area.

She has more than 30 years of experience as a nurse and was director of nursing and quality at the Countess of Chester Hospital for eight years before starting her current role, the trust's website says.

A BBC investigation into how Letby was able to murder and harm so many babies for so long revealed a catalogue of failures and raised serious questions about how the Countess of Chester Hospital responded to the deaths.

Before June 2015, there were about two or three baby deaths a year on the neonatal unit at the hospital, but in that month alone, three babies died within the space of two weeks.

The first five murders all happened between June and October 2015 and - despite months of warnings - the final two were in June 2016.

Dr Stephen Brearey, the lead consultant at the neonatal unit, was the first to raise his concerns with hospital managers, including Ms Kelly, that Letby might be harming babies.

He said he demanded Letby be taken off duty in June 2016, after the final two murders. Hospital management initially refused.

When she was finally moved, Letby was assigned to the risk and patient safety office, where she had access to sensitive documents from the neonatal unit and was in close proximity to senior managers whose job it was to investigate her.

Letby was arrested and suspended by the hospital in 2018, three years after Dr Brearey had first raised the alarm.

She was convicted following a two-year investigation by Cheshire Police, with the final verdicts in the trial announced on Friday.

Letby was found not guilty of two attempted murder charges and the jury was undecided on further attempted murder charges relating to four babies.

Correction: This story has been amended to say that Alison Kelly is director of nursing at the Rochdale Care Organisation, which is part of the Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust. and not nursing director at the trust or its most "senior nurse" as earlier reported.