Police had considered closing hospital down
CHIEF Constable Sir Peter Fahy has explained how he nearly closed Stepping Hill Hospital at the height of Chua’s poisoning spree.
He and his officers held discussions with the then chief executive Chris Burke about closing down the Stockport hospital when it became clear a saboteur was at work on the wards in the summer of 2011 as a series of patients ‘crashed’ because of hypoglycaemic episodes.
Sir Peter said: “There was an enormous amount of pressure on us and indeed the hospital. We didn’t know what was going on.
“There was a huge amount of public concern and absolutely (would you want to) have on your conscience that ‘gosh, another person died’ before we were able to safeguard patients. Clearly that would have been a very serious issue.”
He said closure of all or part of the hospital was only prevented by the hospital bringing in extra security measures like CCTV.
Sir Peter described Chua’s crimes as ‘callous and calculated’, adding that he had tried to cover his tracks ‘out of a sense of vindictiveness’.
The top police officer added he was ‘very sorry’ another nurse, Rebecca Leighton, had been arrested in the summer of 2011 before being released without charge.
“It was a sign of the pressure we were under. Victorino Chua knew this was going on and he did nothing himself to come forward to protect Rebecca Leighton,” he said.