Steve Barclay names Lucy Letby inquiry lead amid patient safety address

Health secretary, Steve Barclay, has named Lady Justice Thirlwall as the chair of the independent inquiry into the crimes committed by former Countess of Chester Hospital nurse, Lucy Letby.

The inquiry was given statutory powers last week and will be led by one of the country’s most senior judges, who currently sits on the Court of Appeal.

The announcement came during Barclay’s speech in the House of Commons, where he also announced that the chair of the Essex mental health inquiry will be Baroness Lampard, who investigated the crimes of Jimmy Saville in a similar inquiry led by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC).

The rest of the health secretary’s address centred around patient safety and what the government has done, is doing and will do.

Barclay drew attention to the appointment of Dr Aidan Fowler as NHS England’s first ever national director of patient safety in 2018, and thus the following patient safety strategy in 2019.

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Source: National Health Executive, 4 September 2023