A senior manager at the Care Quality Commission (CQC) said executives at the Countess of Chester hospital had a "professional obligation" to alert inspectors to concerns about the rise in neonatal mortality during its review in February 2016.
Ann Ford, a director of operations at the CQC, told the Thirlwall inquiry that inspectors were not told about the "unexplained and unexpected" deaths until hours after it published its report into the hospital on 29 June 2016.
The inspection took place nine months into Letby's crimes and came at a time when some of her colleagues were voicing fears that she may be harming babies.
It came in the same week that the hospital's medical director, Ian Harvey, and other senior doctors and nurses received a copy of a thematic review into 10 deaths on the neonatal unit that found that "there was no clear cause for the deterioration/death".
This story is from the November 16, 2024 edition of The Guardian.
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This story is from the November 16, 2024 edition of The Guardian.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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