Context
Nurse Kate Bissell was a senior nurse on the Countess of Chester neonatal unit. Her Thirlwall Inquiry evidence addresses ward-floor staffing, workflow, and how the management of the consultants’ concerns was experienced and observed by nursing staff.
Key ground
Ms Bissell, a Band 6 nurse and shift leader on the neonatal unit from 2009 to 2020, recalled going to Nursery 3 after a shout for help while Lucy Letby was caring for a desaturating baby; a colleague, Lisa Walker, later told her she was concerned Letby had not called for help herself even though the baby needed it.
She said she had no concerns about Letby’s conduct “until two of the three triplets had died and Lucy was moved off the unit to work in a non-clinical role”, that nursing staff were never told why, and that the explanation “just didn’t seem to fit…it just didn’t seem right”.