A girl who suffered severe brain damage as a baby when doctors refused to re-admit her to a special care unit and treat her for a cough was awarded £2.8m damages yesterday.

Staff at Newcastle Royal Victoria Infirmary (RVI) told Bethany Ruff's parents they did not have the authority to admit her to the special care unit just days after she had been discharged, and she would have to stay in overnight on a paediatric ward.

Despite begging staff to help, Aidan Ruff made a phone call to a consultant who had nursed her back to health when she was born two months premature.

He said: "I rang him and he immediately came down to the hospital. He knew exactly what to do. He picked up an instrument and began to ventilate her, and he did so for two hours."

Several days later, and following a journey to Glasgow where she received specialist care, it was discovered that Bethany had suffered brain damage.

The baby spent the first three months of her life in hospital and was left with devastating injuries. Now seven, she can no longer walk, suffers from epilepsy and has a life expectancy of 25 years.

Outside the High Court in Leeds, Mr Ruff, with his wife ,Helen, from Ellingham, Newcastle, said: "The main problem was with the system. She was not assessed properly and it was a systematic failure.

"They didn't seem to recognise how she could be treated. It was clear to us that she had breathing difficulties, and they even took x-rays when she was first admitted to show congestion on her right lung.

"They should have acted earlier and just done one simple thing. I would have done it myself if I'd known the technique to give her the right ventilation."

Mr Ruff, prospective Conservative candidate for Newcastle Central, described events after Bethany was born in October 1993, weighing 1lb 12oz.

He said: "She was a tough little cookie. The standard procedure for a baby born at that stage is to put her on a ventilator. But when they did, she put her hand underneath it and pulled it out. When she was discharged we were as high as kites. Getting her home was the best Christmas ever."

But on December 30, 1993, Bethany started symptoms of a cough. She was taken to Alnwick Hospital before being referred to the RVI where she received the life-saving ventilation from the consultant.

The RVI has admitted liability for failing to give incubation or to provide mechanical ventilation to Bethany when she was re-admitted to hospital in December 1993, at the age of three months.

A partial financial settlement was agreed, with a lump sum of £760,000 for the pain and suffering.