Dr Stephen Brearey was the lead neonatal consultant at the Countess of Chester Hospital when Letby murdered seven babies and attempted to murder seven others. He said he had "naively" assumed senior managers would respond to suspicions about the nurse's involvement in a series of baby deaths.
Brearey claimed his warnings were repeatedly ignored by hospital bosses, who carried out internal reviews into increased infant mortality in 2015 and 2016. Cheshire Police was not asked to investigate until May 2017, and Letby remained employed at the hospital until her arrest more than a year later.
"I was naively thinking that raising concerns with senior managers, they had the same values that I did and, once they got it, they would be thinking the same way," he said.
Brearey led a group of seven consultants who shared the same concerns about Letby. "I think one of the reasons we got through this and ended up picking up a police investigation is that the seven of us stuck together," he said. "But obviously in retrospect, clearly, if we'd known what was ahead of us, we would have gone to the police earlier."
The Thirlwall Inquiry found a "toxic negativity" within the NHS that continued to discourage staff from speaking out, despite stronger whistleblowing guidance, and said regulation was lacking. Brearey, who began to associate Letby with unexplained deaths in 2015, said he fears cultural change at the NHS will take time to implement. The hospital is now under new management.