§ GUIDE · CHILDREN

Your child was sent home.
Then everything changed.

A sick child discharged or reassured, then rushed back hours or days later with meningitis, sepsis or a cardiac arrest. Four of the six judgments here succeeded, and they are among the largest awards in our library. The two losses show the causation hurdle even where care was criticised.

Judgments read

6

Claimant succeeded

4 of 6

Largest sum stated

£9.3 million

Time limit

None until age 18

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§ BEFORE YOU GO FURTHER

For a claim about a child sent home, these things usually need to be true

  • Your child was seen at A&E, a paediatric unit, a postnatal ward or a GP and sent home or reassured.
  • There were signs at that visit that should have led to admission, tests or treatment: fever with drowsiness, breathing difficulty, a positive culture, poor feeding.
  • Admitting or treating then would probably have prevented the brain injury, the death or the cardiac arrest.
  • A child's claim has no time limit until they turn 18, and three years after that.

Two claims here failed because the court found earlier action would not have changed the outcome, or that the parents would not have returned in time. The records of the first visit are the evidence.

§ 01

Meningitis and sepsis

SC v Southampton: a GP suspected meningitis in a 15-month-old, gave penicillin and sent her in by ambulance; hospital doctors diagnosed tonsillitis and sent her home. The court found they should have recognised the antibiotic could be masking sepsis, and the child's stroke and cerebral palsy would have been prevented. EPX v Milton Keynes: a premature baby sent home although a blood culture grew Group B strep; the claim settled for £1.837 million plus annual payments.

Graham v Altaf is the loss: a GP meningitis case where the claim failed. Callaghan v South Tees, a newborn who died of Group B strep meningitis after postnatal discharge, failed because the only breach found would not have brought the mother back to hospital in time.

§ 02

Asthma and breathing

JBX v Frimley: an eight-year-old with severe breathing difficulty was discharged the same afternoon instead of being admitted and given steroids. The next day he had a cardiac arrest and catastrophic brain injury. The Trust admitted negligence and causation; the published judgment decides the disputed heads of damages.

§ 03

Newborns

MGS v University Hospitals Bristol: blood sugar and feeding not monitored on the postnatal ward, brain injury, settlement approved at £9.3 million. The same principle applies to a newborn as to any child: observations that should have triggered action, and did not.

§ 04

What happens next

Children's claims are brought by a parent as litigation friend and any settlement must be approved by the court. Awards for lifelong care are usually a lump sum plus annual payments. There is no rush on the time limit, but medical records are easier to obtain early.

§ THE JUDGMENTS BEHIND THIS GUIDE

The six judgments behind this guide.

Every one a published decision of the courts of England and Wales, linked to its source.

Claimant succeeded

SC v University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust

[2020] EWHC 1610 (QB)·2020·Liability decided at trial

A GP suspected meningitis in a floppy, feverish toddler, gave penicillin and sent her by ambulance, but hospital doctors diagnosed viral tonsillitis and sent her home. Johnson J found the paediatricians should have recognised that the antibiotic could be masking sepsis and given IV antibiotics, which would have prevented her brain injury.

Hospital doctors must take a referring GP's findings seriously, especially where treatment already given may hide the true picture. A child sent in with suspected meningitis should not be discharged on reassurance alone.

Claimant succeeded

JBX v Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust

[2026] EWHC 2294 (KB)·2026·Damages assessed at trial

An eight-year-old brought to Frimley Park Hospital in January 2018 with severe breathing difficulty was discharged the same afternoon instead of being admitted and given steroids; the next day he had a cardiac arrest and catastrophic brain injury. The Trust admitted negligence and causation and this judgment decides disputed heads of damages.

Sending a child home from A&E with signs of life-threatening asthma, rather than admitting and treating, was admitted to be negligent. Once liability is admitted the dispute moves to how care and lost earnings should be valued.

Claimant succeeded£1.84M

EPX (A Child) v Milton Keynes University Hospital NHS Trust

[2019] EWHC 1508 (QB)·2019·Appeal decision

A premature baby was sent home although a blood culture taken in hospital grew Group B strep; staff did not recall her and she developed meningitis with severe brain injury. The claim settled for a lump sum and annual payments; this reported judgment concerns a costs dispute, which the claimant lost.

Failing to act on a positive blood culture after discharge can lead to a multi-million-pound settlement. Note the published judgment is about costs, not the merits.

Settlement approved£9.3M

MGS v University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust

[2023] EWHC 1547 (KB)·2023·Settlement approved by the court

A low-birth-weight baby was not fed adequately overnight and his blood sugar was not checked early enough, causing hypoglycaemic brain damage; the Trust admitted liability in 2018. The court approved a £9.3m lump sum plus periodical payments and held the Trust also owed interest for accepting the offer late.

Negligence in the first days of a newborn's life, not just during labour, can produce some of the largest clinical negligence awards. If a defendant accepts a Part 36 offer late, interest for the delay can be claimed on top.

Claim failed

Callaghan v South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

[2023] EWHC 1199 (KB)·2023·Liability decided at trial

A baby born at James Cook University Hospital was discharged two days after birth and died of GBS meningitis and sepsis. The judge found only one limited breach (a missing piece of discharge advice) and that it did not cause the death because the mother would not have returned to hospital in time.

Even where a hospital gets something wrong, the claim fails unless the mistake is shown to have changed what happened. Record-keeping failings alone did not establish causation here.

Claim failed

Edward Graham v Dr Simone Altaf

[2023] EWHC 156 (KB)·2023·Liability decided at trial

A three-year-old was diagnosed with tonsillitis by a GP registrar, deteriorated over the next two days and was then referred to hospital, where meningococcal meningitis was diagnosed. The court found no causative breach of duty and dismissed the claim.

Meningitis claims against GPs often fail because early symptoms genuinely resemble common childhood infections; the claimant must show both that the GP fell below a reasonable standard and that earlier referral would have changed the outcome.

Browse the whole case library →

Contains information licensed under the Open Justice - Licence v2.0. Judgments from Find Case Law, The National Archives. Summaries are ours; amounts only where printed in the judgment.

§ QUESTIONS

Common questions

We were told it was a virus and sent home. Two days later it was meningitis.

SC v Southampton is the model, and it succeeded because the signs at the first visit called for treatment. The notes of that visit decide whether yours does.

My child has cerebral palsy after being sent home from A&E.

JBX and SC both involved children who suffered brain injury after discharge, and both succeeded. The question is what should have happened at the visit and whether it would have prevented the injury.

Is there a time limit for a child?

No limit until the child turns 18, then three years. A child who lacks capacity has no limit at all.

The hospital says even if they had kept my child in, it would not have changed anything.

That defence succeeded in Callaghan and Graham. It is answered by paediatric expert evidence on what treatment would have achieved at that point.

How much are these claims worth?

For a child with lifelong care needs, the settlements in this group run from £1.8 million to £9.3 million, usually as a lump sum plus annual payments. Each case is valued on the child's needs.

§ MORE GUIDES

Plain answers to the other questions people ask.

Settlement approval →

Why a settlement for a child or protected party must be approved by a judge, what the judge checks, and what public approval judgments reveal about real sums.

Antibiotic delay claims →

How courts judge delays in giving antibiotics for sepsis and meningitis: the causation battle, material contribution, and admissions of liability.

Newborn brain injury →

How brain injury claims arise from the first days of life and from delays in labour: blood sugar monitoring, fetal heart monitoring, and delivery timed in minutes.

Payout examples →

UK medical negligence payout examples by claim type, typical compensation ranges, and what decides the amount. Then check your own claim free.

Fatal negligence payouts →

What compensation after a death caused by medical negligence can include: the bereavement award, dependency, funeral costs and the estate's claim.

NHS payout data →

Official NHS Resolution figures, band by band, for 2024/25.

This guide is general information about the law in England and Wales, not legal advice about your case. ClaimGavel is run by Costart Projects Ltd on behalf of Tomlin & Partners, a specialist medical negligence firm regulated by the SRA. The free assessment on this page is an AI overview to show you roughly where you stand; a solicitor confirms the position in a free, no-obligation conversation.