Senior nurse warned of ‘nightmare’ baby-killing bacteria in Lucy Letby unit

A senior nurse at Lucy Letby’s hospital warned she was facing her “worst nightmare” after deadly bacteria was found on several taps in the “over-capacity” baby unit, leaked emails show.

Eirian Powell, the manager of the neonatal unit at the Countess of Chester Hospital, argued the department was “taking too many risks” and “compromising patient safety”.

The email was sent to senior managers in December 2015, the middle of the period in which there was a spike of baby deaths at the unit, for which Letby was convicted of murder.

Former Estates Management staff at the hospital also told The Telegraph that nappy pads were placed in the ceiling of the unit to prevent sewage leaking through.

The Telegraph has previously reported that the bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa had colonised taps in the nurseries of the neonatal unit, including intensive care. But the extent of the outbreak has only now come to light through the leaked emails.

Ms Powell wrote the email after discovering that a second sink in her unit had tested positive.

Copying in Tony Chambers, the trust’s chief executive, she wrote: “We are currently over-capacity and this is my worst nightmare.

“I feel that we are taking too many risks and compromising patient safety. I want filters put on all taps until we have the ALL clear.”

A risk register seen by The Telegraph shows that filters had to be kept on the taps for months indicating that the hospital struggled to eliminate the bug.

The problem was labelled as “high risk” on the register, which also warned there was a “high risk” from ongoing doctor shortages in the unit.

Records show that the taps in the baby unit were fitted with bacterial filters in an attempt to deal with the issue.

But a former member of the Estates Management team told The Telegraph there were regular call-outs to the unit when the filters became detached from the taps, increasing the risk of infection.

He said he was concerned about the safety of the vulnerable babies in the unit, believing the ward should have been shut down until the bacteria risk had been eliminated.

Speaking anonymously, he said: “I could not understand why the most vulnerable patients in the hospital were being cared for in that unit which was not fit for purpose. I thought it was dangerous. Everyone in Estates did.”

He also described how there were regular call outs to deal with foul water from the pipes which carried macerator waste and sewage above the unit. When there were blockages the waste would seep out of the pipes and through the ceiling tiles in the unit.

The team was forced to put multiple absorbent nappy pads in the ceiling area to stop any waste from dripping down

The former worker also said the sinks were often blocked, adding that the release of the blockage “could be explosive with big splashes of foul water and the cleaners would not be on hand immediately”.

“I’d unblock a sink using a plunger with babies still in the room. All of the lads would raise issues. It was an ongoing battle of firefighting with leaks and blockages,” he said.

Mark McDonald, Letby’s barrister, said: “This is yet another indication as to why this unit was not fit for purpose.

“It has now become clear that there is a strong argument that Lucy was a scapegoat for a dysfunctional, under-resourced and understaffed neonatal department.”

The jury was never told about the bacterial outbreak or the full extent of the sewage problems on the unit, while the new email and full risk register were never disclosed to Letby’s defence team.

At Letby’s trial, the prosecution claimed that testing had ruled out infections in the babies, but during the Thirlwall Inquiry – which is looking into how the killing might have been stopped – Dr Susie Holt said it was “difficult to eliminate them”.

Consultant Dr Murthy Saladi also told the inquiry that before the finger had been pointed at Letby, he was concerned that the baby deaths and collapses were due to an outbreak of the pseudomonas in the unit.

Dr Rachel Lambie, a former paediatric registrar at the Countess of Chester, also told the inquiry that she was initially concerned that two indictment babies had been geographically close to each other in the unit and may have picked up the same infection.

She said she had “personally raised” the issue of an environmental toxin and that pseudomonas was “being considered”.

Pseudomonas is known to be lethal to vulnerable babies. In 2012, a premature baby died and 12 others needed treatment at Southmead Hospital in Bristol after an outbreak of a water-borne bacterium.

Three premature babies also died after contracting the bug at the Royal Jubilee Maternity Hospital in Belfast in January 2012. In that case, sink taps were found to be the source of infection. A baby had died from the same infection six weeks earlier in Derry.

Letby is serving 15 whole life terms for the murder of seven infants and the attempted murder of seven more, but since her conviction dozens of medical and statistical experts have voiced concerns about the evidence.

The safety of Letby’s convictions is currently under consideration by the Criminal Cases Review Commission, which investigates potential miscarriages of justice in England.

A spokesman at the Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust said: “Due to the Thirlwall Inquiry and the ongoing police investigations, it would not be appropriate to comment further at this time.”

A new documentary, Lucy Letby: Beyond Reasonable Doubt?, is being aired on ITV1 and ITVX on Sunday at 10.20pm.

The show’s producers said: “After two trials, nurse Lucy Letby was found guilty of killing seven newborn babies and attempting to kill seven others in one of the most shocking murder cases in British history.

“Described as a cold-blooded, calculating killer, Letby was said to have used her trusted role to cause catastrophic harm to the most vulnerable newborn babies

“So why are a growing number of expert voices now questioning the evidence used to convict her? This programme explores the views of a team of international scientists who say the prosecution case simply doesn’t stand up to scrutiny.”

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