THE Morecambe Bay maternity scandal and protection for whistleblowers were raised in a parliamentary debate on the Countess of Chester Hospital Inquiry into Lucy Letby. 

Eleven babies and one mother died at Furness General Hospital between 2004 and 2013. A report into the deaths said that they were avoidable, and happened due to mismanagement. 

South Lakes MP Tim Farron said in a debate in the House of Commons that the events at the Countess of Chester Hospital felt 'horrifically similar' to the failings that happened at Furness General. 

He said: "Among the most chilling aspects of this tragic outrage was, as we have heard, the actions of trust leaders and managers, who ignored warnings and belittled whistleblowers. We have to ask ourselves how many lives could have been saved if people had been believed sooner.

"I have to say that this feels horrifically similar to the failings in maternity services in my own local trust of Morecambe Bay during the 2000s, when we saw several mothers and babies needlessly lose their lives.

"Since then, despite the freedom to speak up measures that have been instituted across the country, I still see whistleblowers in other departments in trusts in the north-west marginalised, bullied, unfairly treated and having their careers trashed, all because it would appear there is a culture of defending the reputation of institutions rather than protecting the safety of patients."

Responding, the health secretary Steve Barclay said that he had 'always championed' protecting whistleblowers in the NHS. 

He continued: "As I said earlier, the guidance has been strengthened, but one of the best mitigants is having much more transparency on the data, because the more transparent the data is, the more difficult it is for concerns to be ignored. There is a number of issues.

“We have strengthened the data. We have the freedom to speak up guardians. We need to look at whether, in Chester, if a freedom to speak up guardian were on the board, that would be the right approach.

“Do we need to look at whether these roles should be on the board? But significant work has already been done since these events and since Morecambe to strengthen the safeguards around speaking up and the Public Interest Disclosure Act.

“Alongside that, having organisations such as the Getting It Right First Time team looking at the neonatal data is a further important safety process to have in place.”

Former nurse Lucy Letby will spend the rest of her life in prison after being convicted of murdering seven babies and attempting to kill six other infants at Chester Hospital.