Inspectors from a healthcare watchdog were not told of concerns about unexplained and unexpected deaths at the hospital child killer Lucy Letby worked at, a public inquiry has heard.
A team from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) carried out a routine inspection of the Countess of Chester Hospital’s neonatal unit on a four-day visit in February 2016 with unannounced visits in the weeks that followed.
During the period of the first inspection, child serial killer nurse Lucy Letby attempted to murder a baby girl, Child K, as she dislodged her breathing tube in the early hours of February 17.
Earlier that month an external “thematic” review into 10 deaths on the unit in 2015 and January 2016 noted “some of the babies suddenly and unexpectedly deteriorated and there was no clear cause for the deterioration/death identified”.