The head of Lucy Letby’s NHS Trust, who was involved in the killing of seven babies by a nurse, left his job with a £1M pension in 2018 to move on to other top jobs at the NHS
The head of Lucy Letby’s NHS Trust, who was involved in the killing of seven babies by a nurse, left his job with a £1M pension in 2018 to move on to other top jobs at the NHS
- Tony Chambers was responsible when Letby killed children in the trust in 2018
It has been revealed that the chief executive who ran the hospital where Lucy Letby murdered seven babies has left his job with a £1.08million pension and taken on a number of other top positions in the NHS.
As head of the Countess of Chester NHS Trust, Tony Chambers, 57, earned £160,000 a year (excluding pension benefits) and had a pension worth a whopping £1.08million as of March 2018, six months before he left, according to The Telegraph reported.
Chambers starred when Letby murdered seven toddlers and attempted to murder six others, and it is being considered if he could have done more to prevent the murders.
33-year-old Lucy Letby now faces death behind bars after being convicted for the crimes she committed during a 12-month fatal rampage in the neonatal unit at the Countess of Chester Hospital in Cheshire, where she worked.
Their 10-month trial uncovered issues within the department, where a doctor was caught Googling how to perform a procedure and a doctor left a needle in an infant’s chest for too long during a chest tube, which was described as “dangerous”.
Tony Chambers and his wife Alison. Chambers was chief executive of the hospital where Letby worked
On Friday, Chambers said he was “really sorry for what all the families have been through,” commenting on the Lucy Letby case.
In a statement, he said: “The crimes committed are appalling and I am deeply saddened by what has come to light.”
“The trial and the lengthy police investigation have shown the complexity of the issues raised.” “I will fully and openly cooperate with any follow-up investigation.”
A 2016 report by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health found that the trust’s neonatal unit, where Letby worked, was understaffed.
The report also highlighted a “disconnection” between the leadership of the team and the trust’s governance and risk management process.
Chambers eventually left office within months of Letby’s arrest in July 2018 after six years in office.
A source told the Mail that he had resigned after a vote of no confidence was passed in September 2018 at an “extraordinary” meeting of the Medical Staff Committee, which also included advisers.
Mr Chambers said he had “decided to step down” to allow the Trust “to focus on its future” before accepting several short-term but lucrative NHS posts.
In 2020 he was appointed interim managing director of East London’s Queen’s and King George Hospitals on a salary of £210,000.
He then took up the same position at the Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust between August 2021 and January 2022, during which time he earned £100,000.
After leaving hospital, Chambers held the interim position of Chief Executive at Queen Victoria Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in East Grinstead, West Sussex.
He earned the equivalent of £200,000 there before retiring two months ago.
Lucy Letby, pictured, has been found to have killed seven children and attempted to kill a further six
The father-of-two lives with his wife, 59, in a £750,000 Grade II listed house in Bolton with original features such as brickwork and exposed beams.
Mr Chambers, who is a grandfather, says he spends his free time skiing, travelling, sipping whiskey and visiting his eldest son – a professional snowboarder with the British snowboard cross team based in Austria.