The High Court has handed down judgment in a damages claim against Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust, after the Trust admitted negligence and causation, with future care, accommodation and lost years of income in dispute.
Key facts
- Who: The claimant, a child anonymised as JBX, and Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust
- From: 4 September 2026
- Source: JBX v Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust [2026] EWHC 2294 (KB)
The High Court (King's Bench Division), Andrew Kinnier KC sitting as a Deputy Judge of the High Court, handed down judgment on 4 September 2026 in JBX v Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust [2026] EWHC 2294 (KB). The trial of damages was listed for 12 days and took nine, with hearing dates in May 2026. The claimant, his mother and his father are anonymised under an order made on the first day of trial.
Background
The claimant was born in June 2009 and had poorly controlled asthma. In the early hours of 4 January 2018 his mother took him to Frimley Park Hospital with shortness of breath, low oxygen saturation and a very high pulse. He was discharged at 2 p.m. On 5 January 2018 he stopped breathing and suffered a cardiac arrest and a hypoxic brain injury.
In a letter of 27 August 2021 the Trust admitted negligence and causation. It accepted that he should have been admitted and prescribed a five-day course of steroids, and that without the breach he would not have suffered the cardiac arrest and brain injury and would in due course have led a fully independent adult life. Judgment was entered for the claimant on 8 December 2023, leaving damages to be assessed.
The questions
Two heads of loss remained: future care and accommodation, and the claimant's lost years of income. The judgment records that he is profoundly disabled, in a minimally conscious state, and has lived since May 2018 at a residential rehabilitation centre for severely disabled children. The parties agreed his life expectancy at 25½ years.
The claimant sought a lump sum of £9,556,336, or alternatively periodical payments, to fund community-based care in his own property. The Trust argued that he would remain in residential care, costed at £4,842,972.96. On lost years, the claimant assumed 50% of net income would go on living expenses. The Trust argued for a 90% deduction, which produced a figure of £160,345.21, relying on the Supreme Court's decision in CCC v Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust [2026] UKSC 5.
Other matters
The judge dealt with late disclosure of case managers' notes and WhatsApp messages, and a related question of privilege. After inspecting the documents, he concluded that, except in one very minor respect, the privilege claim was properly maintained and the redactions appropriately made.
What this means for families bringing injury claims
The judgment records that significant trial time was spent on the late disclosure of case managers' notes and related messages, and on whether parts of them were privileged. It also shows that the claimant's and the Trust's positions on future care and lost income were set out in detailed schedules of loss and counter-schedules.
Sources
- JBX v Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust [2026] EWHC 2294 (KB), High Court (King's Bench Division), 4 September 2026