Blame for ward death

SIR – The death of six-year-old Jack Adcock in the hospital in Leicester was a tragedy (report, August 14). Yet it was a tragedy waiting to happen.

Inadequate staffing levels, unmanageable workloads, faulty or unhelpful IT systems and overwhelming numbers of patients, who are often scattered in different parts of the hospital, mean that doctors across the country are often making decisions with imperfect information and under unreasonable pressure.

The managers who allow such a situation to develop are unnamed, unknown and unaccountable.

The multidisciplinary team is conspicuous by its absence. Only Dr Hadiza Bawa-garba was in the dock.

The investigation into what happened, which was not shown to the jury at her trial, showed that Dr Bawa-garba was a scapegoat for multiple failings where she worked. Even to strike her off under those circumstances was grossly unfair, as almost every doctor in the country would be found equally culpable at some time in their career. Dr Charles Essex

Leamington Spa, Warwickshire