Lucy Letby hospital executive and safeguarding chief tells public inquiry she 'didn't get everything right'

A hospital executive has told the public inquiry into the crimes of serial killer nurse Lucy Letby that she 'didn’t get everything right', but had 'the best intentions'.

Alison Kelly was director of nursing at the Countess of Chester Hospital during the period when Letby attacked babies on the neonatal unit between June 2015 and June 2016. Letby was moved off the unit in July 2016 to an administrative role after consultant paediatricians told Ms Kelly and other senior managers at the end of June that they were concerned she may be deliberately harming infants.

But police were not called in to investigate until May 2017 after the hospital bosses opted to commission a series of reviews into the increased mortality on the unit.

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At the start of her evidence on Monday at the Thirlwall Inquiry, Ms Kelly said: "I would like to express my condolences to all the families and I'm really sorry for all the distress that the families have experienced over the last few years, and are currently experiencing as we sit here today. I didn’t get everything right. However the decisions I made were with the best intentions."

Ms Kelly, who as part of her role was the executive lead for safeguarding children, told the hearing she never regarded the increase in deaths as a safeguarding matter. She agreed that one of the consultants, neonatal clinical lead Dr Stephen Brearey, told her in a meeting on May 11 2016 about his concerns over the rise in deaths but said he did not mention fears of deliberate harm.

Letby was discussed, she said, but she had 'assurances' from her nursing team there were no concerns about her