A girl who suffered brain damage at birth has been awarded £28 million in an out-of-court settlement after an NHS trust admitted negligence, with lawyers saying she will require lifelong care and constant supervision because of her injuries.
The settlement, approved by Deputy Judge Christopher Kennedy, requires Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust (BHRUT) to pay a lump sum of £8 million, followed by annual payments of £225,000 for 10 years and then £335,000 each year after that. The trust acknowledged an error in the delivery of the child, which took place at Queen’s Hospital in Romford in July 2019.
Lifelong care needs
The girl, now of primary school age, suffered severe hypoxia-ischaemia – a lack of oxygen or blood flow to the brain around the time of birth. Lawyers from Fieldfisher, who represented the family at the High Court, said the condition has left her with significant cognitive and language impairments that will require care for the rest of her life.
She has no danger awareness and is described as overly friendly with strangers, meaning she needs constant supervision. The girl also experiences unpredictable epileptic seizures and is expected to lose mobility over time. Despite these challenges, her life expectancy is estimated at around 83 years.
Her family said she finds joy through music therapy, particularly playing the piano and drums, which has boosted her confidence and ability to communicate.
The girl’s mother said: “My daughter is thriving and doing well but it’s impossible for me to forget that I was robbed of the precious experience of most mothers giving birth by the horror of what happened to us. Seven years on, I’m still deeply affected by seeing the hospital’s name crop up in the press regarding tragedies for other families and their babies. This is despite the repeated promises of the Government and endless reviews into maternity safety. Surely someone must take the bull by the horns and take action to change things.”
Hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy, the medical term for this type of injury, affects around one in every 1,000 babies born in the UK each year. Early and aggressive treatment is crucial to minimise long-term damage.
NHS response and wider context
Nic Kane, chief nurse at BHRUT, said: “We’re extremely sorry the care this child and their family experienced was not good enough. We’d like to reassure them, and all our expectant mothers, that since this birth in 2019, we’ve learned lessons, made significant changes, and our maternity department has been rated good by the Care Quality Commission.
“The improvements include more obstetric and midwifery staff in triage to ensure women are reviewed and concerns escalated quicker, more robust training on CTG monitoring – used to monitor the baby’s heart rate and mother’s contractions – and we are part of a national programme, run by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, which focuses on reducing the risk of avoidable harm in childbirth.”
Despite the current “good” rating for maternity, the Care Quality Commission previously rated maternity services at Queen’s Hospital as “requires improvement” for safety, and the trust’s overall CQC rating remains “requires improvement”. In October 2024, the CQC identified specific areas needing improvement. BHRUT was also placed in the highest risk category by the CQC in October 2013, and by December that year it emerged the trust had paid out more than £23 million for maternity negligence claims in the preceding five years. More recently, in September 2025, BHRUT was named among 14 NHS trusts in England to be investigated for maternity and neonatal service failures, having been identified as the worst trust in London for stillbirths due to negligence between 2012/13 and 2022/23.
Health Secretary James Murray said on Monday that recommendations for NHS maternity services must not sit “on shelves” and that reforms must be “comprehensive”. He told the BBC he had been meeting families whose babies died, which “brings it home in the strongest possible sense, how human and how devastating this can be, and how important it is that we change”.
NHS England has introduced new national maternity clinical standards and a strengthened maternal care bundle aimed at reducing preventable deaths and harm. The reforms focus on earlier risk assessment for blood clots, improved care for women with epilepsy, faster referrals to perinatal mental health services, and quicker escalation during obstetric emergencies. The changes come after reports that nearly half of recent maternal deaths may have been avoidable.
Maternity blunders account for 11 per cent of all NHS negligence claims in England but 53 per cent of their total value, due to the high cost of lifelong care for affected newborns. NHS England faces an estimated £27.4 billion bill for maternity-related clinical negligence claims lodged since 2019. The £28 million awarded to the girl is substantial but not unprecedented: other cases have seen payouts of over £30 million for hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy and £33 million for catastrophic brain injuries at birth.
BHRUT itself has faced financial difficulties, with auditors highlighting “significant weaknesses” in its financial sustainability and an “unachievable” savings plan for 2025-26. The trust has applied for financial support from NHS England.
Jane Weakley from Fieldfisher, who represented the family, said: “Too many times the medical negligence team at Fieldfisher takes on cases where the same terrible mistakes are repeated, bringing untold tragedy. We fully support the NHS and appeal to the Government to please fulfil their promise to make maternity care safe for mothers and babies.”
