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Letby is accused of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder 10 others at the Countess of Chester Hospital between June 2015 and June 2016. Lucy Letby denies killing seven babies and trying to kill 10 others Significant concerns from consultants about Lucy Letby's 'association' with numerous baby collapses were raised eight months before she stopped working in a neonatal unit, a court has heard.
Letby, 33, is accused of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder 10 others at the Countess of Chester Hospital between June 2015 and June 2016.
On Tuesday, consultant Dr Ravi Jayaram told Manchester Crown Court: "We had significant concerns since autumn 2015. They were on the radar of someone as high up as the chief nursing officer since October 2015."
“As physicians, we trust the system…upper management to escalate concerns and investigate them. The initial response was: “It is unlikely that anything will happen. We'll see what happens'.
"We said, 'OK,' against our better judgment in hindsight."
The Crown claims Letby has murdered two children and attempted to kill six others since November 2015.
Dr. Stephen Brearey, head of the neonatal unit, reviewed the circumstances surrounding Child D's case shortly after his death in June 2015, the court has previously heard.
Dr Jayaram said the review had identified Letby's presence in a number of collapses, but it was "an association, nothing more".
On Tuesday, he said the concerns were raised a second time in February 2016, to the chief medical officer and director of nursing.
He said: “My colleague, Dr. Brearey, asked to meet with them. They didn't respond to this for another three months and we got stuck because we had concerns and didn't know what to do.
“In hindsight, I wish I would have bypassed them and gone directly to the police.
"We didn't play judge and jury in any way at any point, but the partnership was becoming more and more clear and we had to find the right way to do it. We were in an unprecedented situation."
We were also beginning to come under reasonable pressure from the top management of the hospital not to worry.
"Eventually, we got to a point in June 2016 where we said, 'Something has to change,' but it's not my place to talk about that now."
Ben Myers KC, defending, said the doctors were "adults" who could have gone directly to the police.
Dr. Jayaram replied, “We also started to get reasonable pressure from the top management of the hospital not to make a fuss.
"In hindsight, we were all adults and we should have stood up and not listened."
Letby, from Hereford, denies the allegations.
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