A LITTLE girl who was born severely brain damaged at Poole Hospital has been awarded a £7.5 million compensation payout from the NHS.

The youngster, who cannot be named for legal reasons, suffered “near total” oxygen starvation in the later stages of her mother’s labour in 2008, London’s High Court heard.

And, although her intellect was mercifully spared, she will always have trouble communicating and be seriously disabled physically, the court was told.

Thanks to her devoted parents’ selfless care, she is expected to live into her mid-40s, Mr Justice Foskett told the court. The judge said Poole Hospital NHS Foundation Trust had admitted full liability for the girl’s devastating injuries. Last night its medical director apologised ‘unreservedly’ to the family for the failures in her care.

The trust agreed to pay the youngster a lump sum of just over £3 million, plus tax-free and index linked annual payments to cover the costs of her care for life. Those payments would start at £106,500-a-year, before rising to £200,000-a-year, and would continue for as long as she lived.

The judge said he had “no difficulty” in approving the settlement - which had a capitalised value of about £7.5 million - as in the girl’s best interests.“It is right to acknowledge publicly the huge amount of care and support that have been given to her by her parents,” he concluded.

Robert Talbot, medical director, Poole Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We apologise unreservedly to this girl and her family for the failures in care they received. The Trust admitted liability for her injuries before proceedings were commenced in 2015 and have provided her with interim payments before the final terms of her compensation package was agreed.

“In addition, after an internal review of practices following the birth, we put in place a renewed educational programme for staff around the monitoring of mothers and babies to reduce the possibility that this kind of error could happen again. We are pleased that this matter is now settled and that a suitable award has been agreed to provide the family with financial security for the future.”