Mary Smyth

The Patient Handover Notes

Much has been said about Lucy Letby taking home handover sheets pertaining to the babies she cared for. According to the judge this was sinister behaviour. I disagree entirely.

I’m a retired nurse (I have a Masters degree in Nursing and PhD in Psychology conducted by research).

For decades in my work as a nurse I took home patient handover sheets. My colleagues would have done the same. By way of a simple explanation to others:
At home, for each nursing shift, I would put on a fresh uniform (a dress with useful pockets). At the hospital, at the beginning of my shift, I would write down information verbally handed over to me by the previous shift. These notes would be made on a fresh handover sheet. The completed handover sheet would go into my left pocket and I would refer to it many times during the shift, adding any further information I wanted to be sure to pass on. At the end of my shift I would verbally hand over to the next shift using my handover sheet which would be returned to my pocket. I would go home wearing my uniform.

Back at home I would undress in my bedroom emptying out my pockets (handover sheet, scissors, pens etc) before placing my uniform in the laundry and having a shower. Next shift would be a fresh uniform. Old used handover sheets would mount up in my bedroom until I had time to rip them up into shreds to properly dispose of them. Although I never received training in this matter, I obviously understood that the handover sheets contained information about patients and so they could not be just dropped into a bin without destroying them first. In addition, on the odd occasion when a member of staff contacted me at home with a query about a patient I had been looking after, it could be useful to retain the handover sheet for a while.
I can easily imagine that younger nurses with busy social lives (and possibly a little less tidier than my “tidy” self) would let these handover sheets build up. In fact, if I were in a situation where I felt doctors at work were trying to apportion blame to me, I think I would have made sure I held onto these handover sheets. They served to jog one’s memory.

To suggest that a nurse having handover sheets at home is odd in any way is evidence of someone having no insight into the normal everyday working day of a nurse. Yes, when I focus on this issue I can see that nurses should probably not take such notes home. But in all honesty I can say that I did so for decades, so too did my colleagues and there was never any discussion about this. In my opinion, the judge was entirely wrong to assign any sinister intent to Lucy Letby having handover sheets at home. I found his comment to be lacking any insight into normal nursing behaviour. In fact, I found his comment to be quite bizarre.

I don’t know if Lucy Letby is guilty or innocent but I do know she never received anything like a fair trial. The highly erroneous use of so-called “statistical analysis” during the trial has been alarming to say the least. In posts on this website I find it heart-warming to see that there are highly intelligent people with immense expertise – in scientific methodology and statistical analysis in particular – who are willing to get on board and show us the problems with the “evidence”. I applaud you all. It is clear that our justice system needs to be protected.

I cannot close without mentioning my sincere feelings of deep sadness for the parents and families affected by the injuries and deaths of babies. Whatever the ultimate findings in this case, they need to be clear, incontrovertible and the basis for change.
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Reply:
Your handover notes plus own notes routine makes such good sense and I’ve read similar from a nurse elsewhere. Thanks for this. May I add this to my collection of ‘professional information useful for defence’ list? This has no destination in mind yet and is just on a new home-made website. But good data collections must start somewhere. Thanks again.
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Reply:
You may use my notes wherever you wish. They are an honest account.