Lucy Letby trial hears doctor felt 'extremely uncomfortable' leaving baby alone with nurse

A doctor felt "extremely uncomfortable" with nurse Lucy Letby being left alone with a baby girl, Manchester Crown Court has heard. Letby is accused of deliberately dislodging the infant's breathing tube shortly before consultant Dr Ravi Jayaram walked in the nursery room. Giving evidence Dr Ravi Jayaram claimed the 33-year-old did "nothing" while the baby's oxygen levels dropped. 

The alleged attempted murder is said to have taken place during a night-shift at the Countess of Chester Hospital's neonatal unit in February 2016.

The Crown say Letby struck at 3.50am, less than two hours after the extremely premature-born youngster, Child K, was born.

The court heard that the baby was left in a "stable condition" by her designated nurse Joanne Williams in the nursery of the Countess of Chester Hospital's neonatal unit.

Dr Jayaram said he began to feel "extremely uncomfortable" when Ms Williams said Letby was "babysitting" the child.

He told the court the team at the hospital was "aware" of a "number of unexpected and unusual events" surrounding Letby.

He said: "That's all we were aware of. No cause and effect had been ascribed.

"I will admit it seemed entirely irrational and illogical. Jo told me she was going and Lucy was there, I felt extremely uncomfortable."

"You can call me hysterical, you can call me irrational, but that's how I felt because of this association."

He said he tried to "stop being so ridiculous" but the thought "kept coming back into my head" and went to check on Child K.

Dr Jayaram added: "I had not been called to review Child K and I had not got up because I heard alarms going off. I went up to nursery one and walked in." 

Describing to the court what he said he said Letby was "standing by the incubator and the ventilator".

He continued: "'I saw her and then I looked up at the monitor and Child K's blood oxygen levels were in the 80s and they continued to drop.

"The ventilator was not alarming and the incubator was not alarming and the monitor is set to alarm when the sats drop below 90 per cent.

"I recall saying, 'What's happening?' and Lucy looked and said something along the lines of, 'She is having a desaturation'."

Phil Astbury, prosecuting, asked Dr Jayaram what Letby did next to which he replied "nothing".

Only after he noticed the child's chest had stopped moving he said the pair "switched into professional mode".

He added: "It didn't really make sense to me why the tube became dislodged. It had been secured and Child K was not a vigorous baby.

"It's very difficult to dislodge an endotracheal tube without it being spotted. So I then removed the tube, which was not blocked."

Dr Jayaram told the court that senior members of the team wanted the association between Letby and presence and the fact that "more and more of these events were happening."

He added: "There was absolutely no evidence that we could prove anything because that's not our job as doctors.

"As a group of consultants, we had experience or knowledge of unusual events, and there was one particular nurse associated with them."

Child K died three days later after being transferred to Arrowe Park Hospital, Merseyside.

Lucy Letby denies murdering seven babies and trying to kill 10 others between June 2015 and June 2016.

The trial continues.