Torbay Hospital welcomes whistleblowers

Trust reponds to Lucy Letby case

The trust managing Torbay’s health services has pledged an ‘open and honest’ approach to staff who speak up after the Lucy Letby case led to another hospital being heavily criticised.

Serial killer Letby was found guilty last week of murdering seven babies and trying to kill another six at the Countess of Chester hospital between June 2015 and June 2016. She was cleared of two counts of attempted murder and a jury was unable to reach verdicts on a further six attempted murder charges.

Letby is to serve a whole-life sentence, meaning she will never be released.

After the case, the former chair of the NHS trust where Letby worked said the board had been misled by hospital executives.

Torbay Council’s Liberal Democrat group leader Steve Darling (Barton with Watcombe) wrote to the Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust calling for an ‘aviation-style’ approach to near-misses.

He wrote: “We need to foster an approach where there is a culture of openness and honesty, as seen in the aviation industry where near misses are shared for others to learn from, and clinicians’ and managers’ professional curiosity is encouraged.”

He asked for assurances that the trust would ensure it had ‘a culture fit for the twenty-first century’ to serve staff and patients alike.

Trust chairman Sir Richard Ibbotson said the trust’s board shared Cllr Darling’s distress at the Letby trial.

He went on: “We are blessed in our trust both with good clinical leadership and a tradition of open and honest engagement. This for instance includes a vibrant, formal and well-supported freedom to speak up approach.

“The Freedom to Speak up Guardian has a permanent and regular agenda spot at board meetings – one of our ways of ensuring our culture is appreciated.

“These measures all give us confidence, though of course events like this rightly make us look to our processes and behaviours. We are doing that right now and will be sharing any outcomes just as soon as we can.”

Cllr Darling said reports of the culture surrounding the Countess of Chester hospital were ‘disturbing’.

He added: “We need to see a culture in health trusts like that in the aviation industry, where near-misses are reported as something to be learned from, rather than something to be feared.

“We need to drive a positive culture where managers have a professional curiosity.”