The parents of a boy left with a severe brain injury after paramedics missed signs of meningitis have spoken of their “devastating” ordeal after his symptoms were dismissed.

Teddy Woodhouse was just seven weeks old when his temperature spiked “dangerously” above 40C and he stopped feeding on 28 November, 2021. His worried parents Kara and Chris called 999 and an ambulance was rushed to the family’s Cambridgeshire home, where medics eventually managed to encourage him to feed and bring his temperature down slightly.

But despite his “very fast” heart rate and a fever of 39C, paramedics decided not to take Teddy to hospital and instead told Chris and Kara to give him half a spoonful of Calpol. They helped him through the night, but were horrified the next morning to find his skin “completely translucent” and his temperature plummeting.

Teddy was rushed to hospital where he was resuscitated three times, had back to back seizures for several hours and was diagnosed with life-threatening sepsis and meningitis.

Now, years later, the East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust has admitted that there was a failure by the paramedics who attended on the day to recognise the significance of Teddy’s condition, and to take him to hospital.

“We gave him a half dose of Calpol, which seemed to perk him up a bit,” Ms Woodhouse, 32, recalls. “He was ok through the night, but still not quite himself.

“But then the next day he turned completely the other way. His temperature went down to around 35C and his skin was completely translucent. He would hardly wake up, he would hardly move, so we phoned the ambulance back again and said our baby is really, really unwell.”

A first responder arrived and told the family to go straight to hospital, where they were met by “ten to 15” doctors anxiously waiting to treat the seven-week-old.

“I just stood outside the glass doors and said, I’ll just stand out of the way and you do whatever you need to help my baby,” Ms Woodhouse remembers. “I didn’t want to delay anything.”

Teddy suffered multiple seizures lasting as long as two-and-a-half hours each, had a cranial cannula inserted, and was given a flurry of medications to treat the sepsis and meningitis. The couple feared he may never come home.

As a result of his seizures Teddy sustained brain damage and is now profoundly deaf and only began to walk at four years old. He stayed in the hospital for three weeks, but eventually his parents were allowed to bring him home.

His parents said it was “devastating” to know that if Teddy had received treatment earlier, he wouldn’t have contracted meningitis.

Mr Woodhouse remembers being pulled to one side by a neurologist who told him that from looking at the MRI he could guarantee that Teddy would never have contracted meningitis had he been brought into hospital 24 hours before.

“I blamed myself,” he said. “Why didn’t I take him to hospital the previous evening?”

The pair instructed specialist medical negligence solicitors from Penningtons Manches Cooper to obtain compensation for Teddy, and last year, the NHS Trust admitted a failure to recognise Teddy’s symptoms and take appropriate action.

Determined to use Teddy’s experience for good, the Woodhouses recorded a video for the East of England Ambulance Service, which is now used to train paramedics all over the country. Because of them, all paramedics’ iPads are also now programmed so that when they add the temperature of a child and it is too high, they are told to go straight to hospital.

“There were so many red flags that were missed that shouldn't have been missed,” Ms Woodhouse said. “We don't want the same situation to happen to somebody else.”

They described Teddy, now five, as “our little miracle”.

“We didn’t know if he would survive but now he is the happiest child you could imagine,” they said. “He is a joy to be around and has the biggest smile despite everything he has been through.”

Alison Johnson, partner and specialist medical negligence lawyer at Penningtons Manches Cooper, said: “I am grateful that the trust has admitted liability for the failure to take Teddy to hospital so that my clients do not have to endure the strain of a prolonged litigation process. It is a testament to my clients’ wonderful nature that they have managed to create something good out of this tragedy by helping with a training video and ensuring babies across the UK are conveyed to hospital when their temperatures are too high. They are an inspiration and I hope Teddy continues to fill their lives with joy.”

An East of England Ambulance Service spokesperson said: “We are deeply sorry for what Teddy Woodhouse and his family have experienced.

“Our investigation found that he should have been taken to hospital and we have taken steps to ensure the lessons identified from this case have been fully learned. Since then, we have undertaken significant work to strengthen our clinical processes and decision-making when assessing whether a patient can be safely cared for without being conveyed to hospital.

“This has included a particular focus on the assessment and care of children, alongside improvements to guidance, training and oversight, to help ensure the safest possible care for our patients.”