Dr Ventress gave a statement to Thirlwall about her time at Chester which shows how little suspicion there was around Letby's activities. She was never involved in accusing Letby of anything. Here are some of her comments to Thirlwall:
On Child E
Child E's death may have been a surprise, but I do not remember anyone raising
concerns. I knew from previous experience that sometimes a baby's condition can
change very quickly, and they can die, for example, from overwhelming sepsis and so
I assumed something like that had happened.
On Child F, one of the insulin cases:
From reading the notes, the initial general thoughts of the medical team for the cause
of the low sugars combined with tachycardia was possible sepsis, for which Child F
was appropriately treated. It seems that on the morning review, it was noted that the
leg with the long line had become swollen and so there was a concern that the line had
extravasated and was the reason assumed for the low sugars at that time. The morning
review took place after the Grand Round, but I can't recall who was present during the
review. The plan was to move the TPN to a peripheral line and insert a new long line.
Lines extravasating is a known complication, and so there were no concerns that
anything untoward had happened. I was not surprised by his presentation and did not
have any concerns to raise.
On Child G
Child G's deterioration was not expected as she had been stable previously. However,
unexpected deteriorations are not infrequent in any NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care
Unit), especially in babies born extremely premature like Child G and it can happen for
several reasons. The most common reason being infection, which was later shown to
be the case for Child G.
22. In terms of Child G's large projectile vomit'; it is hard to comment on the issue with no recollection of the incident. Babies vomit frequently for many reasons, and the
description of vomits is extremely subjective. I don't give much attention to how big or
projectile the vomit is reported for a single vomit. Rather, I would assess the baby's
condition and that would impact my management more than the description of the vomit. I cannot recall if I saw the vomit myself or if it was just reported to me by a nurse.
On Lucy Letby:
31. I was not aware of any suspicions about Letby while I was working at COCH. I only
became aware that she had been removed from clinical practice during a conversation
with Nurse T after I had left. I did not report any concerns or suspicions as I didn't have
any.
She comes across as a balanced and thoughtful person not inclined to dramatise things in hindsight.
thirlwall.public-inquiry.uk/evidence/inq0018066-witness-statement-of-alison-ventress-dated-26-04-2024/