News

Nurse Lucy Letby trial: defendant recalls pressures on staff

‘Unsafe’ neonatal unit was beyond patient capacity, and staff were physically and emotionally drained, nurse accused of multiple murders and attempted murders tells her trial
Court sketch of nurse Lucy Letby weeping in the witness stand at her murder trial, with judge on left

‘Unsafe’ neonatal unit at Chester Hospital was beyond patient capacity, and staff were physically and emotionally drained, nurse accused of multiple murders and attempted murders tells her trial

Court sketch of nurse Lucy Letby weeping in the witness stand at her murder trial, with judge on left
Nurse Lucy Letby gives evidence in her trial at Manchester Crown Court Picture: Elizabeth Cook

Nurse Lucy Letby texted colleagues to say the neonatal unit where they worked was ‘completely unsafe’ and she was ‘very concerned’ about one baby’s care, her murder trial heard.

Giving evidence to Manchester Crown Court on Monday, Ms Letby told defence counsel Ben Myers KC, the neonatal unit had been busy and staff ‘emotionally drained’ around the time she is accused of making two attempts to murder Child H, a baby girl, on 26 and then on 27 September 2015.

The nurse is accused of murdering seven babies and the attempted murder of ten more at the Countess of Chester Hospital in Chester between June 2015 and June 2016. She denies all the charges.

Neonatal unit was over its patient capacity, defendant claims

Jurors were told how on 24 September, Ms Letby texted fellow nurses to raise concerns about safety on the unit.

Mr Myers asked his client what the message was referring to, to which she replied: ‘The staffing on the unit. We had got 18 babies, which is over-capacity. We had capacity for 16. There was a lot going on.’

Mr Myers asked: ‘Had the unit been as busy as this in all the years you worked there?’

Ms Letby said: ‘No. It was increasingly busy at this period. A lot of staff were drained physically and emotionally. The unit was very busy, lots of people were doing additional shifts and changing shifts at the last minute and it did start to have an effect on everybody.’

Nurse recalls care of Child G, a premature baby girl

The defendant was also asked about Child G, an extremely premature baby girl, whom, the prosecution alleges, Ms Letby tried to murder on three occasions. She had been Child G’s designated nurse on the day shift of 21 September, when two murder attempts took place, the prosecution claims.

During the morning, Child G experienced two vomiting episodes and briefly stopped breathing. Ms Letby said she heard the infant’s monitor sound while she was in the room with two other babies. The baby girl stabilised when she went to her, Ms Letby said, and there was no need for an emergency crash call or a shout for help.

Ms Letby told how the care of Child G was transferred to a more senior nurse because the baby girl required a high level of care from that point and she had other babies to care for in the same nursery room.

Later in the day, Child G was behind a screen for her ‘privacy’ after numerous cannulation attempts. Ms Letby told the court: ‘I happened to catch sight behind the screen and saw that (Child G) was on her own. She was dusky, blue and not breathing.’

‘I was very concerned baby was left unattended on trolley’

Mr Myers asked his client: ‘What did you do when you found her in that position?’

Ms Letby said: ‘At this point [Child G] was on the procedure trolley, which is a flat bed with no sides, and I put her into the cot and immediately started Neopuffing (breathing support).’

Counsel then asked: ‘Should she have been left on the procedure trolley?’

The nurse replied: ‘No, that’s not the style of practice at all. I was very concerned about it. Three issues really: we would never leave a baby unattended on a procedure trolley, unattended behind a screen, or without a monitor on. And those three things had happened.’

The trial continues.


In other news

Jobs