Letby trust pays £1.4m damages to ex CEO

A former NHS chief executive has been awarded £1.4m in damages after suing the health service for unfair dismissal.

Dr Susan Gilby took the Countess of Chester NHS Trust to court after being suspended in December 2022.

The compensation is one of the largest payments the NHS has ever made to a former employee.

The final cost to the taxpayer - including court costs - could be around £3m after the trust refused offers to avoid the case going to court.

Gilby told the BBC she was relieved the case was over and that this "was never about the money."

The Countess of Chester NHS Trust - where Lucy Letby worked - confirmed that a settlement had been agreed.

The compensation payment comes after an employment tribunal ruled in February last year that board members at the trust had conspired to remove her from her job.

Gilby had accused the trust's chairman, Ian Haythornthwaite, of bullying and harassment. In response, Haythornthwaite, working alongside three other directors, had set up Project Countess, to force Gilby out.

Gilby, 62, said one of the trust's directors, Ros Fallon, took her to a pub on a Friday afternoon in October 2022 and told her it was "time for you to go".

"She said: 'And if you don't agree to go, we will start a process against you'. She was unable to tell me what that process would be."

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Source: BBC News, 15 January 2026