A child who was left with cerebral palsy after hospital staff failed to deliver her quickly enough has been awarded millions of pounds in compensation.

Elise Frith, now six, was born at Milton Keynes Hospital, but although her mother Yelena had been suffering from abdominal pains, an emergency Caesarean was not performed until more than two hours after a problem was detected.

The child was deprived of oxygen and now has mobility and communication problems as a result of her cerebral palsy, Milton Keynes Today reports.

Milton Keynes Hospital admitted that its staff had been negligent in not taking Ms Frith in for surgery sooner and this week approved a compensation payout that, although confidential, is believed to amount to millions of pounds.

According to the charity Scope, one in every 400 children in the UK is born with cerebral palsy.

This is most commonly the result of failure of a part of the brain to develop and can be caused by a lack of oxygen in the womb, as was the case here.