I have been Lucy Letby’s barrister for the past two years. I have spent thousands of hours going through the evidence, speaking to experts and examining what happened to the babies who died or became seriously unwell on the neonatal unit at the Countess of Chester hospital. I have worked with nearly 30 experts, including internationally recognised specialists in neonatology, pathology, insulin, statistics and other fields. It may be to some an inconvenient truth, but I am convinced that Letby is innocent, and her convictions represent one of the most serious miscarriages of justice in modern British legal history. That means she was failed by the police, the NHS, the criminal justice system and, importantly, a plethora of experts who simply got it wrong.

My work on the case has also raised wider concerns about the evidence and conclusions surrounding the deaths on the neonatal unit, and what the lessons being drawn from this case will mean for doctors and nurses in neonatal medicine.

Neonatal units are among the most demanding environments in the NHS. These are tiny, desperately ill babies. Their condition can change within minutes, and doctors and nurses make difficult decisions under enormous pressure, often with incomplete information.

Sometimes, despite the best care, babies die. That is an uncomfortable truth, but any serious discussion about neonatal safety has to acknowledge it. What worries me is that we risk creating a culture in which clinicians become frightened to work in these environments.

Imagine being a doctor working a night shift in a neonatal unit. A baby’s condition suddenly deteriorates and you........

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