'SUB-OPTIMAL' care at the Countess of Chester Hospital's neonatal unit was a factor which led to many of the baby collapses, the defence barrister of alleged killer nurse Lucy Letby has said.

Letby, 32, denies the murder of seven babies and atempting to murder 10 more at the neonatal unit between June 2015 and June 2016.

Ben Myers KC, giving the defence outline case at Manchester Crown Court on Thursday, October 13, told the jury there were problems with the way the neonatal unit was run at that time.

He suggested it was overstretched and understaffed, adding: “This whole case is complicated. Sat in that dock is a young woman who says this is not her fault, so we need to look at the evidence."

Mr Myers addressed the issue of Letby being present at all the apparent collapses and deaths.

He said: “We say there are many occasions when Lucy Letby was simply not there when she had to be present if she was doing the deliberate harm alleged.

“She was a young woman with no immediate family commitments and someone who built her life around her work in a neonatal unit.

“Someone in that position is more than likely to be looking after the more clinically challenged babies and more likely to be there when deterioration happened, but it doesn’t mean she made it happen.”

Mr Myers said the evidence outlined by the prosecution was disputed, in particular allegations of air being injected into babies.

Each case was disputed by the defence, with Mr Myers saying "sub-optimal care" was a factor in the cases of Child A; Child C, who should have been taken to a specialist hospital; Child D, who should have been given antibiotics hours before she was treated; Child H; Child J, where the Countess of Chester Hospital was "well out of its depth" in knowing how to treat her; Child K, who Mr Myers said 'should not have been in the Countess of Chester Hospital in the first place'; and Child N.

The defence barrister said the prosecution referred to how babies improved rapidly when moved to a tertiary unit, such as Arrowe Park or Liverpool Women's Hospital, "when moved away from Lucy Letby".

Mr Myers said the improvement could be because they had been "moved away from the Countess of Chester Hospital", adding it was evidence the neonatal unit "did not always deliver the level of care that it should have provided" and to blame Letby "is unfair and inaccurate".

He added, of the Countess staff: "We do not suggest for one moment the doctors and nurses did anything other than the best they could.

"What they do is admirable."

He said the defendant is “adamant” she did nothing to harm children.

“Anyone who approaches this as some kind of a done deal has got this very badly wrong,” Mr Myers said.

“She loved her job. She cared deeply about the babies and also cared for their families.”

The trial was adjourned until Friday morning.