10:44am
There has been a delay to the start of today's trial.
11:23am
The current estimated time for the trial to resume today is 11.30am.
11:33am
The trial is now resuming. The judge, Mr Justice James Goss, apologises for the delayed start, which he said was due to a cancelled Northern Rail train.
11:34am
The first witness to give evidence to day is from a nurse, who cannot be named due to reporting restrictions, who explains she was a shift leader at the Countess of Chester Hospital neonatal unit in June 2015.
11:40am
The nurse explains to the court the types of different care that would be provided to babies arriving in the neonatal unit.
11:43am
The nurse is now being asked questions on Child C.
A reminder that none of the children listed in the charges can be identified, so a naming system of 'Baby/Child A' to 'Baby/Child Q' is being used by the press.
11:47am
The nurse said back in 2015, she was not sure she was the one allocating the designated nurses to the babies for that shift, as the allocation system was in the process of changing.
She said she remembers Sophie Ellis was the designated nurse for Child C that evening.
She says Sophie was a "very competent nurse", having come through the neonatal unit as a student nurse.
11:49am
The nurse remembers there being 'no clinical concerns' for Child C at the start of the shift.
11:50am
The nurse says she remembers Melanie Taylor also being assigned to room 1, with Sophie Ellis who was looking after Child C.
Melanie Talylor "would be there for support, for Sophie".
11:54am
The nurse also recalls Lucy Letby was on duty that night, looking after 'at least' one different baby, in room 3.
The nurse said she had 'concerns over respiratory distress' for that baby at the start of that night shift. He was 'grunting', and such symptoms had not been present prior to that.
The nurse asked Lucy Letby to increase the observations for that baby from two-hourly to one-hourly and call the registrar in.
12:00pm
The prosecution asks the nurse about Child C's collapse at 11.15pm.
"I do not remember where, but I was not in nursery room 1."
She recalls "a shout for help", but does not remember who called it.
She entered room 1 and saw Melanie Taylor and Sophie Ellis, and a Neopuff device was being administered.
She noticed Child C was not breathing and the heart rate was very low.
The Neopuff gave Child C chest movement, but he did not breathe himself.
Child C had a "mottled" skin appearance, the nurse recalled.
She remembers a crash call being put out, and recalls Lucy Letby being present, but does not recall when Letby entered the room.
She recalled Sophie Ellis "becoming emotionally upset" and the nurse said she advised her to step outside.
12:02pm
The nurse remembers resuscitation efforts were made, and Child C was baptised, and overseeing palliative care to make the baby boy more comfortable before he died.
12:05pm
The prosecution asks: "Whose responsibility is it to ensure the memory box is made and who takes care of it?"
The nurse: "The designated nurse at the time, if they're able."
The nurse said Melanie Taylor took over as designated nurse and "partly" arranged the memory box.
The nurse explains she asked Lucy Letby to focus back on a baby in nursery room 3, but Letby went into the family room "a few times". The nurse recalled asking Lucy Letby to leave the family to Melanie Taylor.
The nurse tells the court Letby did not have any designated duties to be in the family room, and told her "more than once" not to be in the family room.
12:05pm
Ben Myers KC, for the defence, is now asking the nurse questions.
12:12pm
Mr Myers asks the nurse how busy the unit had been between 2015 and 2016, and from a statement she had made, there were more babies arriving into the unit, and more "intensive unit" babies arriving.
Mr Myers said the number of intensive unit babies arriving seemed more than what Arrowe Park, a tertiary centre, had.
Mr Myers says the nurse, in her 2018 statement, said a ward manager was "fighting" for more nursing staff for the Countess of Chester Hospital neonatal unit. "She still is."
"We sometimes weren't meeting staff guidelines for ratios."
The nurse replies that was the case across the nursing network.
The nurse agrees it was "not an ideal experience for staff."
Mr Myers: "And not an ideal experience for babies? There will be a danger of a knock-on effect."
The nurse replies: "Just because the amount of babies increased does not mean we were not compliant on any shift."
The nurse says she did not say staff were "struggling to cope", after being asked about her statement saying staff were missing breaks during "busy" shifts.
12:17pm
Mr Myers asks about Child C, asking if he was in a "potentially fragile condition". The nurse agrees.
Mr Myers says that due to his size and prematurity, there was a risk he could die. The nurse agrees.
12:21pm
The nurse says she could have changed the staffing allocation for designated nurses for that night shift, had she wanted to.
She says she does not know whether Sophie Ellis had looked after a baby as premature as Child C before, but had confidence in her as Melanie Taylor was there for support.
She says she does not recall if Lucy Letby had asked her to spend some time in that room 1.
12:30pm
Mr Myers asks about Child C's collapse.
The nurse says she was not in room 1 at the time, but saw Sophie Ellis and Melanie Taylor in that room, attempting to assist Child C's breathing with the Neopuff device when she arrived.
The nurse says an initial crash call was put out, followed by one for a consultant.
Mr Myers says the police statement refers to "I think Lucy Letby was in the room by now".
The nurse said she made the statement three years after the incident, and could not recall precisely when Letby had entered.
Mr Myers asks the nurse if she was the one to take an upset Sophie Ellis aside and get her to step down from duty for that time. The nurse agrees.
The nurse said Lucy Letby returned to looking after the other babies "after a number of askings" not to be in the family room, as the nurse and Melanie Taylor were looking after Child C and his parents following the collapse.
12:34pm
Simon Driver, for the prosecution, rises to ask the nurse more questions.
The nurse is asked if, given the busy shift, the quality of care was in any way "diminished" for Child C. The nurse says "no".
The nurse adds she would have allocated Sophie Ellis to look after Child C as the designated nurse, with Melanie Taylor supervising, as she believed her to be competent.
The nurse said she believed another baby on the neonatal unit - the one Lucy Letby was designated to look after that night - should have had more care, including a septic screening, as the nurse believed that child was the most concerning to her that night.
12:38pm
The nurse says, from her police interview, she "believed" Sophie Ellis and Melanie Taylor were in room 1 with the Neopuff device when she arrived.
The court hears the response from police was "ok", followed by the nurse saying: "But I...100 per cent couldn't tell you", which the prosecution say meant she was not 100 per cent sure.
12:49pm
The next witness to give evidence is Dr Katherine Davis, who in June 2015 was a paediatric registrar at the Countess of Chester Hospital.
The court hears she had been working night shifts for the night Child C collapsed, and the previous night.
12:52pm
Dr Davis says she does not recall the previous night shift, but from her nursing notes on the night shift of June 12-13 she recalls the observations for Child C at 9.20pm on June 12, 2015.
The notes include "suspected sepsis" and "jaundice" on a list of ongoing problems. The latter is, the court hears, "very common" in premature babies.
12:54pm
Dr Davis added that, at that point, there had been 'no desaturations' or 'bradys' (bradycardia).
Child C was 'NBM' (nil by mouth) due to "billious aspirates".
The trial of Lucy Letby, who denies murdering seven babies at the Countess of Chester Hospital neonatal unit and attempting to murder 10 more,…
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