The nursing watchdog “should’ve acted faster” when responding to concerns about baby killer Lucy Letby, its new boss has said.
Paul Rees, appointed head of the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) in July, told The Independent that neonatal nurse Letby should have been suspended after she was first arrested in July 2018.
Letby remained free to work at the Countess of Chester Hospital without any restrictions imposed by the NMC until she was charged in November 2020.
The now 35-year-old, originally from Hereford, is serving 15 whole-life prison sentences after being convicted of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder seven others between 2015 and 2016, one of whom on two occasions.
Revised NMC rules now mean investigators no longer have to wait until a nurse is charged before they can issue a temporary suspension order.
Mr Rees said: “We’ve changed the guidance, so it is clear now where there is an exceptional case of serious criminal wrongdoing, we take action and implement an interim order.
“It’s incumbent upon us to move fast and bring about these interim orders.”
Asked if he expected the NMC to be criticised by the public inquiry examining the authorities’ responses to Letby’s crimes, Mr Rees replied: “We don’t know yet, but it’s a possibility because we should’ve acted faster.”
Lady Justice Thirlwall’s final report is due to be published next year.
The NMC was contacted in July 2016 by Alison Kelly, who was then director of nursing at the Countess of Chester Hospital, after consultant paediatricians raised fears that Letby may have been deliberately harming babies on the neonatal unit.
Letby was redeployed to non-clinical duties but had been due to return to the unit when the move was put on hold as hospital chiefs contacted police in May 2017 to ask them to investigate a higher than expected number of deaths.
She continued to work in the hospital’s risk and patient safety department until her arrest in July 2018.
A senior lawyer at the NMC concluded that unless Letby was charged, there were insufficient grounds to obtain an interim order which could have led to her being suspended or restricted in her practice.
Letby was given 14 whole-life terms in August 2023 after being found guilty of the seven murders and six attempted murders. She made two attempts to kill one of the babies.
She was stripped of her nursing credentials and struck off the register at an NMC hearing in December 2023.
Letby was given a 15th whole-life term in July 2024 after she was convicted of trying to murder another premature baby girl.