A High Court judge has delayed a decision on whether a 10-year-old girl who was “starved of oxygen” during her birth should receive an urgent £2.15m payout from West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust.

The girl, who was born at Watford General Hospital, has disabilities including cerebral palsy and epilepsy. She cannot stand or walk independently and an expert suggested her life expectancy is likely to be around age 31.

Her mother brought a negligence claim to the High Court in 2020, and the trust has since accepted negligence and apologised. The claim said that if the girl – who suffered a brain injury after being starved of oxygen – had been born just minutes earlier, she would have been neurologically normal.

A final settlement is yet to be worked out but documents prepared on behalf of the girl’s mother said their total losses could be more than £19m.

In 2018, a six-year-old boy who suffered a “catastrophic” brain injury after his birth at the same hospital received £37m in compensation from the trust.

In the current case, interim payments of £825,000 have already been paid by the trust. The case was brought before the court because the girl’s mother requested an urgent further payment of £2.15m to enable her family to move to a property better suited for her daughter’s needs.

The girl currently lives with her parents, siblings and a carer in a three-storey rented property that is deemed unsuitable for her long-term needs without further adaptations.

Her parents must carry her to her bedroom, and her carer is unable to live on the same floor.

The family’s accommodation expert told the court that the home is also “unsatisfactory” because the bedroom, bathroom and therapy room are too small for the girl’s equipment and care needs.

An accommodation expert instructed by the trust had also visited the girl’s home nine weeks before the hearing, but their report was not made available to the trust’s legal team.

The girl’s family have had an offer of £1.65m accepted to buy a suitable property, subject to the court approving their claim for an urgent payout.

However, a lawyer acting for the trust told the court such a payment order would be inappropriate and the claim for an urgent payment should be dismissed.

The trust’s lawyer argued for a significantly more “conservative” valuation of the claim, and said the requested interim payment “far exceeded” the amount that may result from a trial.

The judge decided to delay a decision in a judgement published last week. He said this was “regrettable”, but there were “several crucial gaps” in the available evidence, and he was “distinctly uncomfortable” with figures provided by both parties.

He said those provided on behalf of the girl “contain errors”, and those provided on behalf of the trust are “broad brush”.

Speaking after the decision, a spokesperson for West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust said: “We wish to sincerely apologise for failing to provide appropriate standards of maternity care for this patient in 2014. 

“We deeply regret this and have since made changes to ensure our maternity care is of the highest standard. 

“These changes include recruiting a specialist midwife who monitors babies in labour, and introducing peer support for foetal heart rate monitoring to reduce the likelihood of missing a baby that is not coping well.

“Foetal monitoring is now included in our mandatory learning programme for midwives, and compliance against a national core competency framework for midwives is reported to the trust board regularly.

“We are focusing on a financial resolution so the family can get the care and support they need.”