The “supposed” duty of candour in the NHS was “certainly not honoured” by the Countess of Chester Hospital, the parents of two triplet boys murdered by Lucy Letby have told a public inquiry.
The deaths of Child O and Child P on successive days in June 2016 led to the removal of the nurse from the hospital’s neonatal unit to a non-patient role after consultants suspected she deliberately harmed them and other infants.
But their parents were unaware of the increased mortality rate at the unit in 2015 and 2016 until police first contacted them a year later and learned only at the 2023 criminal trial about her removal, heard the Thirlwall Inquiry into the events surrounding Letby’s crimes.
The triplets were born in good health and continued to be stable until Letby returned to duty from a holiday in Ibiza and became the designated nurse for Child O and P.
She injected air into the bloodstream and stomach of Child O and also inflicted a liver injury of the kind usually associated with the impact of a road collision.
Child P died after Letby administered air into his stomach via a nasogastric tube.
On Wednesday, Child O and P’s mother stated to the inquiry: “I was never told anything about Letby by the Countess of Chester Hospital. It was only during the trial that I found out she had been taken off the ward.
“I do not believe the Countess of Chester were honest with us at any stage. In my view they never should have taken on our care in the first place. We were not made aware of the higher mortality rate in the neonatal unit which we now know they were aware of at that stage. I think as parents we should have been informed of this.
“They knew something untoward was going on and they continued to take on my care even though we could have been sent to a neonatal unit elsewhere.”
Lucy Letby was convicted of murder and attempted murder at Manchester Crown Court in 2023 (Cheshire Constabulary/PA)
The triplets’ father stated: “Following the deaths of our children we didn’t receive any support or counselling from anyone. Had we received some support we might have been in a better position to try and act on what our instincts were telling us which was that something had gone badly wrong.
“We were in no fit state mentally to take on a hospital which had no interest in trying to help us or be honest with us. We only started to get meaningful information when the police investigation got under way and we gradually learned more.
“I hope the inquiry wil recognise that very few parents who experience the sort of trauma that we did are realistically going to be in a position to take on the system and get answers.
“We can only get answers if those in positions of authority who have information are required to be candid and honest. This simply didn’t happen.
“I have heard talk about the duty of candour but it was certainly not honoured by Countess of Chester Hospital in this case.”
Both parents told inquiry chair Lady Justice Thirwall: “We believe the Countess of Chester Hospital knew much more than they have admitted to publicly about Letby’s crimes and understand from our solicitors that by the time the children were born there were already serious concerns about Letby.
“Obviously, we want to see what evidence comes out about this in the inquiry but clearly hospital management should have been much more responsive when concerns were raised rather than ignoring or covering up concerns to protect the reputation of the hospital and the neonatal unit.
“The information sharing with us was not adequate. It was worse than that, it was basically non-existent.
“Within the NHS there is supposed to be a duty of candour. Nobody at the Countess of Chester Hospital was candid with us. The duty of candour needs to be made legally enforceable.”
In the aftermath of the boys’ deaths the fearful parents of Child O and Child P demanded the removal of the surviving triplet from the Countess of Chester.
Chairwoman of the inquiry Lady Justice Thirlwall at Liverpool Town Hall (Peter Byrne/PA)
At the completion of their evidence Lady Justice Thirwall told them: “Both of you have explained very vividly what your experiences were in the Countess of Chester Hospital in 2016.
“Awful experiences as you described them and yet thanks to your quick thinking at a time when you were devastated you insisted and managed to achieve (the surviving triplet) being transferred to Liverpool Women’s Hospital where they seemed to thrive from the moment they got there.
“There is no question that made a huge difference.”
Letby, 34, is serving 15 whole-life orders after she was convicted at Manchester Crown Court of murdering seven infants and attempting to murder seven others, with two attempts on one of her victims, between June 2015 and June 2016.
The inquiry is expected to sit until early next year, with findings published by late autumn 2025.