Babies could have been saved if hospital acted sooner, consultants say

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Dr Jayaram told ITV News: “It’s a horrible thing to say but I do genuinely believe that there are four or five babies who could be going to school now who aren’t.” Both consultants spoke of hospital executives’ reluctance to involve the police for fear of damaging the trust’s reputation. “We said ‘OK’ – against our better judgment in retrospect.” We were also beginning to get a reasonable amount of pressure from senior management at the hospital not to make a fuss Dr Ravi Jayaram, Countess of Chester Hospital Dr Brearey went on to commission an independent neonatologist from Liverpool Women’s Hospital to analyse the increased mortality rate. In retrospect, I wished we had bypassed them and gone straight to the police.” He added: “We were also beginning to get a reasonable amount of pressure from senior management at the hospital not to make a fuss.” The trial heard from fellow consultant Dr John Gibbs that a “tipping point” was reached in June 2016, with the deaths of two triplet boys, Child O and P, on successive days. Those who lost their children deserve to know whether Letby could have been stopped and how it was that doctors were not listened to, and their concerns not addressed, for so long Rob Behrens, Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman But Dr Gibbs told the court that consultants had to “resolutely resist” attempts by management to return her to the unit up to the point when police launched an investigation in May 2017.