Letter: Lucy Letby case shows NHS managers are not accountable

It is simply that there appears to be no democratic mechanism by which NHS Trust managers can be compelled to address concerns of staff and the public.

Although they are in charge of what we might still call a “public service”, they are beyond democratic control.  A few years ago my organisation, Betrayed By Their Trust, which was formed to support staff victims of management bullying, saw Mr Garnier several times and gave him evidence of some serious cases in Worcestershire. 

These included a whistleblowing radiographer struck off when he tried to expose the inability of the Trust to properly interpret x-rays and scans. 

Read More: Here is what Mr Garnier said

There was a case also of two staff sacked because of head injuries to a vulnerable mentally ill patient. 

The Trust insisted the injuries had been caused on the ward, when all the staff believed they had occurred when she was on home leave with her husband.

BBTT made strenuous repeated efforts over a number of years to get justice for these staff members. The Trusts simply denied everything no matter what evidence was put before them. 

After four years or so the radiographer was reinstated on the professional register when a tribunal finally looked at the evidence. 

They concluded that the charge brought by the Trust against him had been contrary to that evidence. 

The Nursing and Midwifery Council considered a request by the Trust to rule that the nurse blamed for the head injuries was unfit to practise and should be struck off. 

After commissioning a legal report, the Council concluded that the nurse had no case to answer. It went further to say that the staff would be believed if the case went to a hearing. 

Mr Garnier chooses to focus on how many people have been murdered by NHS staff. But he should be addressing the wider question of accountability.

How many patients died because the Trust was unable to properly process x-rays and scans? 

How many vulnerable patients abused by someone in the community have not had their injuries properly investigated under the Trust’s safeguarding procedures?

The truth is that this is a system which Mr Garnier supports. 

He said to me ultimately, “Nigel, it would not be right if I could tell Trust managers what to do.” 
 So, we asked, who can hold them to account? 

There was no answer then, and there is no answer from anyone now. That is why the murderous Lucy Letby was allowed to go on for so long.
 

Nigel Gilbert
Chair, Betrayed By Their Trust