Context
Dr Rachel Lambie, consultant paediatrician, gave Thirlwall Inquiry evidence on the clinical picture of the cluster as it unfolded, the unit’s staffing and capacity problems, and the executive response to the consultants’ escalation.
On the unit’s capacity
Dr Lambie’s evidence addresses capacity mainly through the Registrar cover model. As an ST6 she covered both the children’s ward and the neonatal unit; on a nightshift, she said, “you cross covered both”, and with no Consultant physically present, “I would have been the most senior doctor in that department”. She said it was “slightly dependent on how busy you were who would answer the phone” when parents rang for updates, and that towards the end of her placement, as the collapses continued, “the unit felt — I don’t know if busier is the right way to describe it but it felt different”.