A public inquiry into the case of Lucy Letby, a British neonatal nurse convicted of killing seven babies, has come under fire from scientific and medical experts who have called for it to be delayed or broadened to consider whether the deaths could have been caused by other factors.

The inquiry, set to begin on Sept. 10, will cast a fresh spotlight on one of the most haunting murder cases in recent British history. Conscientious and well liked by her colleagues, Ms. Letby was found guilty of killing seven infants, and trying to kill seven others, in a busy public hospital in 2015 and 2016.

Ms. Letby, 34, was sentenced to life in prison last year and her requests for appeals have so far been denied. But questions about the handling of the investigation and the evidence used to convict her have grown harder to ignore, with prominent experts in statistics and neonatal medicine arguing that both were gravely flawed.

Under the terms of its mandate, the inquiry will not scrutinize those questions. Instead it will hold hearings to probe the experiences of the families of the babies who died and the conduct of nurses, doctors, and other health workers at the Countess of Chester Hospital, southeast of Liverpool.

Led by Kate Thirlwall, an appeals court justice, the inquiry aims to determine “whether suspicions should have been raised earlier, whether Lucy Letby should have been suspended earlier, and whether the police or other external bodies should have been informed sooner about suspicions about her.”

The thornier question — whether Ms. Letby might have been wrongfully convicted — falls beyond the scope of the inquiry, which was announced in 2023 by the health secretary in the last Conservative government.