Nurse explains why there was no CCTV in the baby unit where Lucy Letby worked

After watching Netflix’s new Lucy Letby documentary, lots of people are wondering why there was no CCTV in the baby unit where she worked. A nurse has explained the reason.

The 36-year-old was convicted of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder six more between June 2015 and June 2016 at the Countess of Chester Hospital. She was sentenced to life in jail in July 2024, but some think she served a miscarriage of justice and is innocent.

From Letby being on duty during every infant death to taking handover notes home, there was lots of evidence which the jury used to ultimately declare her guilty. However, there wasn’t actually any CCTV footage of Letby committing her crimes, which would have proven or denied her involvement once and for all.

So, why was there no CCTV? Well, a nurse told The Tab that neonatal units in hospitals never have surveillance cameras, and it all comes down to privacy.

Credit: Netflix

Kelsey Pabst, a Registered Nurse & Medical Reviewer at Cerebral Palsy Center, currently focusing on neonatal care, told The Tab: “Neonatal units are actually considered ‘private clinical units’. Neonatal units include documentation of newborn data, real-time clinical discussions, and constant communication between staff and families, which can also involve emotional moments.

“A continuous video recording is almost certain to include some protected health information belonging to multiple patients and families at any given time, which makes comprehensive compliance with privacy laws like HIPAA difficult, if not impossible, unless access restrictions are extremely tight and closely managed.”

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The use of surveillance cameras would be a breach of privacy, and this is the case on a lot of wards in NHS hospitals, not just baby units. East Kent Hospitals University explains that CCTV cameras are only in use in “non-clinical areas” such as entrances, car parks, and hospital grounds.

Some security staff and medical professionals in other areas, such as emergency departments, also wear body cameras which are switched on as required to film specific incidents, such as violence or abusive behaviour.

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Featured image credit: Netflix