CQC official says managers showed a ‘lack of transparency’ during inspection nine months after Lucy Letby’s first murder

Hospital managers showed a “lack of transparency” by failing to tell a healthcare watchdog about a spike in baby deaths during an inspection that took place nine months after Lucy Letby’s first murder, an inquiry has been told.

A senior manager at the Care Quality Commission (CQC) said executives at the Countess of Chester hospital had a “professional obligation” to alert inspectors to concerns about the rise in neonatal mortality during its review in February 2016.