Bad NHS bosses 'should be disqualified' - inquiry

Sir Robert Francis KC was called by the Thirlwall Inquiry to give expert evidence on NHS processes and culture

Senior NHS managers should be disqualified if they are found unsuitable to carry out their roles, the Lucy Letby inquiry heard.

Barrister Sir Robert Francis KC told the inquiry there is currently no regulator "with the teeth" to sanction poorly performing directors.

Sir Robert, an expert in medical law who chaired the inquiry into the Mid-Staffordshire NHS in 2013, said doctors can be deemed unfit to practise by an independent adjudicator.

But he said there was no equivalent process non-clinical managers.

Lucy Letby targeted babies at the Countess of Chester Hospital between June 2015 and June 2016

Mr Francis said: "The result, I'm afraid, is that people who haven't done terribly well one way or the other may leave one job, and you will then find they pop up in another, because there is no overall certification as to whether someone is a fit and proper person at any given time to do these roles.

"So I am in favour of there being a system of regulation that at least has that element to do it."

He said he believed there ought to be a way of disqualifying someone from becoming a chief officer or senior director of an NHS organisation.

In a report to inquiry chairwoman Lady Justice Thirlwall, he wrote that external scrutiny of NHS bodies depends on intervention by NHS England or the Care Quality Commission - both of which he said were not "fully equipped" for the job.

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Sir Robert's inquiry into care failings at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust uncovered the neglect of hundreds of patients at Stafford Hospital between 2005 and 2009 and made sweeping recommendations for change.

Some families have told Lady Justice Thirlwall they feel senior management at the Countess of Chester hospital were "complicit" in Letby's attack spree in 2015 and 2016.

They accused some senior leaders of "facilitating murder" by ignoring concerns raised by consultants.

But former managers have claimed they were not informed about staff suspicions that Letby was deliberately harming babies in the neonatal unit until late June 2016.

She was removed from the unit weeks later, although police were not called in by the hospital until May 2017.

There had been plans to return her to her usual duties before police were called.

Letby, 34, from Hereford, is serving 15 whole-life orders after she was convicted at Manchester Crown Court of murdering seven infants and attempting to murder seven others, with two attempts on one of her victims, between June 2015 and June 2016.

The inquiry is expected to sit at Liverpool Town Hall until early next year, with findings published by late autumn 2025.