Lucy Letby failed nurse placement for being too cold and not kind enough to patients, inquiry hears
Lucy Letby failed her final nursing assessment before she qualified because she was too cold and not kind enough to patients, the public inquiry heard today Lucy Letby failed her final hospital assessment before she qualified as a nurse because she was too cold and not kind enough to patients, the public inquiry heard today.
Lucy Letby failed her final nursing assessment before she qualified because she was too cold and not kind enough to patients, the public inquiry heard today
Lucy Letby failed her final hospital assessment before she qualified as a nurse because she was too cold and not kind enough to patients, the public inquiry heard today.
The former neo-natal nurse also struggled to calculate drug doses and remember the uses of common drugs and their side effects.
Nicola Lightfoot, the deputy manager of the childrens ward at the Countess of Chester Hospital, told the hearing she failed Letby at her final third year placement in 2011 because she didnt think she had the right personality or characteristics to do the job.
She also said she was concerned about her professionalism.
I was concerned about her interaction, how she communicated and I felt it was lacking, her clinical knowledge was (also) not where it should be, Mrs Lightfoot said.
We see students who are extremely academic, but from a personality and characteristic point of view they dont seem to blend into the role of being a childrens nurse, which includes characteristics of empathy, being kind, being friendly, being able to establish relationships with our families.
I found Lucy to be quite cold, I didnt find a natural warmth exuding from her that I expect from a childrens nurse.
Mrs Lightfoot said Letby struggled to work out the doses of common drugs on her placement and nurses supervising her often had to step in and help.
Letby, 34, also couldnt verbalise their side effects, she added.
Nicola Lightfoot, the deputy manager of the childrens ward at the Countess of Chester Hospital, told the hearing she failed Letby because she didnt think she had the right personality or characteristics to do the job. Pictured: Lucy Letby as she was arrested in 2018
Mrs Lightfoot told the inquiry, which is investigating Letbys crimes, that it was uncommon for third year nursing students not to pass their final practical but admitted she had failed a few during her 28-year career.
In her final report she said Letby, who was studying for a childrens nursing degree at Chester University, needed much more support and supervision than I would expect at this stage to allow her to practice.
I felt she had some way to go, she added.
But Letby did eventually pass later in the year after completing her outstanding three competencies during a four-week repeat training placement with a different mentor.
The hearing was told that Letby requested a new supervisor because she said Mrs Lightfoot made her anxious and was intimidating.
Mrs Lightfoot said that she wasnt surprised by this comment and explained that it was her job to ensure students were safe to start work and her role involved challenging students knowledge and skills.
As a consequence, they often provided negative feedback to get their side in first, she added.
Referring to Letby, Mrs Lightfoot said: I had to be sure. I am saying this person is ready and safe to practice and I wasnt prepared to put my professional reputation and registration on the line at that point.
Mrs Lightfoot said she wasnt aware of the spike in deaths on the neo-natal unit but did remember Letby making an inappropriate comment to Nurse Mel Taylor about the death of the second triplet, known as Baby P, in June 2016, which made her wonder if something significant was going on.
Letby murdered the infant and his brother, Baby O, on consecutive shifts before being moved off the unit.
Image of the corridor within the Countess of Chester Hospitals neonatal unit (showing the entrances to nurseries 2,3 & 4), which was shown at Manchester Crown Court during the trial of nurse Lucy Letby
An aerial view over the Countess of Chester Hospital in Chester, where Lucy Letby worked on the neonatal unit before being convicted of murdering seven babies and the attempted murder of seven others
Mrs Lightfoot said: As I was coming into the break room I passed Lucy and I heard her say something along the lines of, You never guess whats just happened.
I felt it was inappropriate. The way she said it seemed like she was talking about some exciting event that she had witnessed.
It was an inappropriate response to the death of a child.
The death of a child is distressing for everyone involved, whether expected or not and it has a profound effect on the whole team.
Ive never, and Ive never since, seen a response like that to a nurse involved in a patients passing.
Mrs Lightfoot admitted she didnt mention Letbys comment to her manager and accepted with hindsight she perhaps could have escalated it.
But she added: There was nothing substantiated, it was just an inappropriate response and I didnt have a full awareness of what was happening on the unit and the mortality rate to put two and two together.
Mrs Lightfoot was asked about the evidence of Nurse ZC, who claims she shrugged her shoulders when shed suggested to her that it was unusual that Letby was always there when babies died.
But Mrs Lightfoot insisted that this comment was made to her in a public area of the hospital and not a concern raised in a professional manner.
She said she thought it was just gossip and tittle tattle from a nurse who disliked Letby.
Letby, of Hereford, is serving a whole life tariff after being convicted of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder seven more on the unit between June 2015 and June 2016.
The inquiry, at Liverpool Town Hall, is expected to sit until January.
