Widen baby death probe to cover our girl, urge parents
A COUPLE whose daughter almost died in a hospital at the centre of a police investigation into the deaths of 17 babies want officers to widen the probe.
Felicity Whitfield, now four, suffered a catastrophic lung collapse three days after being born prematurely at the Countess of Chester Hospital in 2013.
She came so close to death that a chaplain conducted an emergency baptism. However, doctors at a second hospital managed to revive her.
On Friday, Lucy Letby, 28, a nurse at the Countess of Chester Hospital, was freed on police bail after being held on suspicion of the murder of eight babies.
There is no current evidence that she was involved in Felicity’s care and no suggestion that those looking after her acted improperly.
But the child’s parents are dismayed the probe is limited to the deaths of 17 babies and 15 ‘non-fatal collapses’ between March 2015 and July 2016. Miss Letby began working in the neo-natal unit in 2011.
Father Mike Whitfield, 38, said: ‘The police should widen their investigation to take in deaths and non-fatal collapses that happened earlier in Miss Letby’s time there. We want answers for ourselves and we want answers for those poor parents whose babies died.’
Mr Whitfield and his wife, Vicky, 39, from Blacon, Chester, have asked the hospital for their daughter’s medical notes to check if, as they recall, Miss Letby was involved in Felicity’s care.
‘For our peace of mind we want to see what contact, if any, she had with our daughter,’ said Mrs Whitfield.
The couple acknowledge that medical notes in their possession state Felicity was suffering from pneumonia, which could explain the sudden lung collapse.
After she fell ill, a doctor at Chester suggested a last-ditch transfer to Arrowe Park Hospital, near Birkenhead.
After being treated with a special lubricant that coats the lungs at Arrowe Park, as she had been twice at Chester, Felicity’s condition improved.
A Cheshire Police spokesman said: ‘We recognise that this investigation has a huge impact on the families, staff and patients at the Countess of Chester Hospital, as well as members of the public.
‘Parents of all the babies continue to be kept fully updated.’