The Thirlwall Inquiry: How Hospital Warnings About Lucy Letby Were Handled
The findings of the Thirlwall inquiry were due early in the afternoon on 15 September 2026. The inquiry was set up to examine how former neonatal nurse Lucy Letby was able to murder babies in a neonatal unit (the ward for very sick newborns) over a two-year period, according to The Guardian.
Letby, 36 in September 2026, worked in the neonatal unit of the Countess of Chester Hospital at the time of the offences in 2015 and 2016. She was convicted of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder seven more. The court imposed 15 whole-life orders, prison terms with no release.
The convictions have withstood appeal so far. Letby was twice denied permission to appeal in 2024. A separate route remains open. The Criminal Cases Review Commission (the independent body that reviews possible miscarriages of justice) is considering evidence presented for her by an international panel of medics, who claim poor medical care and natural causes explained the collapses.
The inquiry was put in place in autumn 2023. Lady Justice Thirlwall was appointed to chair in September 2023. Former health secretary Steve Barclay formally established the public inquiry (an official investigation that hears evidence in public) in October 2023. Evidence was heard at Liverpool Town Hall between September 2024 and February 2025, with witnesses including parents of Letby's victims.
The scope was narrow by design. The inquiry did not examine the convictions or possible motives. Its focus was the conduct of Countess of Chester Hospital staff in relation to Letby's actions, including whether she should have been suspended earlier and whether police should have been informed sooner. The stated remit is examining the events at the hospital and their implications following the trial and convictions, according to the Thirlwall Inquiry.
Publication slipped repeatedly. The report was first expected in November 2025 but was delayed. In May 2025 the inquiry said the final report would be published in early 2026, according to Reuters. The inquiry was expected to find failures by the hospital to ensure patient safety, according to the BBC. Inquests (formal hearings into deaths) into the deaths of babies Letby was convicted of murdering are to take place in May 2027.
The broader context here is institutional accountability while legal contest continues. A public inquiry that examines governance, escalation and clinical oversight without deciding guilt now reports while the CCRC process continues and inquests lie ahead. For NHS trusts, regulators and Whitehall, the questions will be procedural and structural: how concerns raised by clinicians were handled, at what point external referral became required, and what safeguards should bind executive boards when internal warnings persist.
In my view, readers should keep the three tracks distinct. The convictions stand. The CCRC assessment is separate. The Thirlwall findings address systemic response. Conflation would mislead, and precision will matter as recommendations emerge for hospital management, whistleblowing protections and the interface between health providers, regulators and police.
