Mark Andrews: Disgrace of Letby hospital's PR campaign and Edinburgh Fringe in a nutshell
While police investigated the murders of seven children at the hands of Lucy Letby, the hospital which employed her spent £325,000 on public relations consultants to mitigate the damage to its image.
Says it all, doesn't it? This was over a period from 2019 to 2023, so while the NHS grappled with the coronavirus, the Countess of Chester Hospital was blowing the budget on its media profile.
Public-sector spending on marketing and PR spin is one of the great scandals of our age. Local authorities, NHS trusts and government departments waste millions on 'corporate branding', 'mission statements' and staff whose primary aim is to keep the public in the dark about their failings.
There will now be an utterly useless public inquiry into the Letby affair, which will rumble on for years and tell us 'lessons will be learned'.
I wonder how much money will be spent on public relations to manage the fall-out from that.
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