Rochdale Care Organisation’s director of nursing suspended after accusations of ‘failing to act’ when doctors raised concerns after baby deaths at Countess of Chester Hospital

Alison Kelly, director of nursing at the Northern Care Alliance’s Rochdale Care Organisation, has been suspended following accusations of ‘failing to act’ when she was the senior manager in charge of nursing when Lucy Letby murdered and seriously injured babies in her care.

Prior to joining Rochdale Care Organisation, Alison Kelly was director of nursing and quality at the Countess of Chester Hospital for eight years, where former nurse Letby, 33, murdered seven babies on the neonatal ward.

The allegations were made during the trial of Letby, who has become Britain’s most prolific child killer after being found guilty of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder another six at the Countess of Chester Hospital between 2015 and 2016.

On two counts of attempted murder, she was found not guilty. The jury could not reach verdicts on six counts of attempted murder.

Letby refused to appear in court for her sentencing on 21 August, which saw her named as the fourth woman in the UK to be handed a whole life order behind moors murderer Myra Hindley (who sexually assaulted and killed five young people aged between 10 and 17 in the 1960s with her boyfriend Ian Brady), Rose West (who sexually abused and killed at least 10 women and girls with her husband Fred, who was charged for 12 murders, between 1967 and 1987) and Joanna Dennehy (who in 2013 stabbed three men to death and left their bodies in ditches).

Concerns were first raised after three ‘unexplained’ baby deaths at the Countess of Chester Hospital in July 2015, but concerns were ‘ignored’ by hospital leaders, Rochdale Online understands.

 

 

Ms Kelly, who qualified as a nurse in 1988 before undertaking a number of clinical and corporate leadership roles in trusts across the north west, had been accused of failing to act when doctors raised concerns.

Nicky Clarke, chief people officer at Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust, has confirmed Alison Kelly has been suspended, adding: “We are unable to comment any further at this moment in time.”

In a statement to the Independent and the Telegraph before her suspension, Ms Kelly said: “It is impossible to imagine the heartache suffered by the families involved and my thoughts are very much with them.

“These are truly terrible crimes and I am deeply sorry that this happened to them.

“We owe it to the babies and their families to learn lessons and I will fully cooperate with the independent inquiry announced.”

The government has since ordered an independent inquiry into the circumstances behind Letby’s “horrific” murders after the lead consultant at the neonatal unit where she worked told the BBC that bosses “failed to investigate allegations against Lucy Letby and tried to silence doctors.”

The inquiry will also look at the handling of concerns and governance, and will also look at what actions were taken by regulators and the wider NHS.

Health and Social Care Secretary Steve Barclay said: “This inquiry will seek to ensure the parents and families impacted get the answers they need.

“I am determined their voices are heard, and they are involved in shaping the scope of the inquiry should they wish to do so.

“Following on from the work already underway by NHS England, it will help us identify where and how patient safety standards failed to be met and ensure mothers and their partners rightly have faith in our healthcare system.”

Police are also understood to be reviewing the care of all babies admitted to hospitals where Letby was working as a neonatal nurse. The review includes her work placements at Liverpool Women's Hospital in 2012 and 2015, although police say this did not involve any deaths.