A lawyer representing families of babies harmed by Lucy Letby has said it was "offensive" that NHS executives at the Countess of Chester Hospital prioritised the hospital's reputation over patient safety. Richard Scorer told the Mail's Trial+ podcast that Lady Justice Thirlwall's public inquiry report, which found hospital leadership "completely failed" to protect babies, made for "devastating" reading for his clients, even though much of its content had already emerged during seven months of hearings. The findings matter because they confirm that managerial failures, not just Letby's actions, allowed the killings to continue.

The 822-page report found that babies known as Baby O and Baby P would not have died had managers followed safeguarding procedures, removed Letby from the ward and called police sooner; their surviving triplet brother, Baby R, is now ten. Lady Justice Thirlwall criticised former chief executive Tony Chambers, who earned £160,000, for mounting an "exercise in spin" and delaying police involvement out of fear of press coverage, while former nursing director Alison Kelly was also censured for safeguarding failures. Letby, 36, murdered seven babies and harmed seven others at the hospital between June 2015 and June 2016.