NHS trust agrees to pay more than £4m damages to boy who suffered brain injury shortly after birth

Hospital bosses have agreed to pay more than £4million damages to a 16-year-old boy who suffered a brain injury shortly after birth, a High Court judge has been told.

Mrs Justice Hill approved a settlement at a High Court hearing in London on Thursday after lawyers representing the boy made medical negligence allegations.

The judge said the teenager, who has cerebral palsy, could not be identified in media reports of the case.

Lawyers had initially taken legal action against the Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust, which was based in Birmingham.

The judge heard how that trust was now part of the University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust.

Barrister John de Bono KC, who represented the teenager, outlined detail of the settlement, and explained how the boy had suffered a brain injury shortly after birth.

He said the trust had agreed to pay a £4.75 million lump sum plus on-going ‘periodical payments’.

Mrs Justice Hill said, in a ruling, that liability had been admitted.

Hospital bosses have agreed to pay more than £4million damages to a 16-year-old boy who suffered a brain injury shortly after birth, a High Court judge has been told (Pictured: Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, part of the University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust)

Mrs Justice Hill approved a settlement at a High Court hearing in London on Thursday after lawyers representing the boy made medical negligence allegations (Pictured: High Court in London)

It comes after University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust was found to be among the worst performing in England earlier this year. 

Three-fifths of NHS patients needing routine procedures had waited longer than four months, statistics gathered in March showed.  

Of the 182,000 patients in the queue for elective care at University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust in December last year, only 38 per cent had been since within 18 weeks. 

Official guidelines state patients have a legal right to be seen within the timeframe but MailOnline’s analysis shows just two per cent of trusts hit this target at the end of 2021.

The NHS also publishes statistics on the time taken for trusts to see the final tenth of patients on their waiting lists.

This data showed Norfolk and Norwich Hospitals NHS FT and University Hospitals Birmingham NHS FT were the worst trusts, taking a year and four months to get to this group.