An independent inquiry has been ordered for a UK nurse who was convicted for killing babies on the neonatal unit at the Countess of Chester Hospital where she worked.

However, the lawyers representing two of the families who lost their children say the inquiry doesn’t go far enough and needs to be statutory to have “real teeth”.

Lucy Letby was found guilty of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder six others at the hospital between 2015 and 2016, following a 10-month trial.

Slater and Gordon – the law firm representing the two families say a non-statutory inquiry isn’t good enough and the hospital needs to learn a lesson, as well as the wider medical profession.

The patient safety investigator says he had identified common features between the Letby case and the reviews he had conducted, including managers accused of “protecting reputations” over listening to staff concerns.

Letby is expected to be sentenced tomorrow.