UK health secretary orders live-stream cameras for England baby wards after Letby inquiry

September 15, 2026 at 09:53 PM2 min

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Health Secretary Yvette Cooper said officials will urgently develop plans for live-streaming cameras on England's neonatal wards. The announcement follows the Thirlwall Inquiry report that found some of Lucy Letby's victims could have been saved if managers at the Countess of Chester Hospital had acted earlier.

Key Facts

Health Secretary Yvette Cooper said officials will urgently develop plans for live-streaming cameras on England's neonatal wards.
Inquiry chair Lady Justice Thirlwall called for CCTV for all cots and incubators and restricted access to insulin.
The report found that some babies Letby killed could have been saved if managers at the Countess of Chester Hospital had acted earlier.
Hospital bosses did not invite Cheshire Police to investigate until May 2017, and Letby remained on site until her arrest more than a year later.
Thirlwall said former chief executive Tony Chambers behaved in a dictatorial manner and intended to obstruct a police investigation.

Camera Rollout

Health Secretary Yvette Cooper said officials will urgently develop plans to introduce live-streaming cameras on England's baby wards. The announcement follows the Thirlwall Inquiry report that called for CCTV for all cots and incubators and restricted access to insulin. Inquiry chair Lady Justice Thirlwall said some of the babies Letby killed could have been saved if managers at the Countess of Chester Hospital had taken action earlier.

Inquiry Findings

The report criticises a complete failure to protect babies and a profound failure of management, governance and safeguarding at the hospital. Thirlwall said no one seems to have understood that safeguarding action is required when a member of staff is suspected of causing deliberate harm and does not require colleagues to be sure of guilt. Letby was moved to administrative duties in July 2016 after consultants expressed concerns, but the inquiry found several missed opportunities for hospital bosses to intervene, including when three babies died in one cluster in June 2015. Parents of the babies were kept in the dark for years over concerns their babies might have been deliberately harmed, which Thirlwall described as reprehensible.

Management Accountability

Hospital bosses carried out internal reviews into increased infant mortality in 2015 and 2016 but did not invite Cheshire Police to investigate until May 2017. Letby remained on site until her arrest more than a year later. Thirlwall said former chief executive Tony Chambers behaved in a dictatorial manner and intended to obstruct a police investigation into deaths on the ward. Chambers, along with director of nursing Alison Kelly and medical director Ian Harvey, dismissed the idea that Letby was deliberately harming babies, Thirlwall added.