A Norfolk woman's death three days after her mother called a health care company pleading for help has been called a 'shocking incident' by a high court judge.

The company, Care UK, has admitted liability for the Norfolk mother's death, and has agreed to pay her son £300,000 in damages.

The mother was still in her teens when she became ill with a cough, sore throat and loss of appetite, London's High Court was told.

Barrister, Jane Tracy Forster, said her own mother rang an out-of-hours help line, run by a provider which was afterwards taken over by healthcare giants, Care UK.

Ms Forster told the court the company had not acted in the best interests of the mother.

She said Care UK 'should have realised this young woman needed to see a doctor that day'.

The mother's condition developed into pneumonia and her son, then less than a year old, had to be brought up by his grandparents.

The boy is still under 10 years old and cannot be identified for legal reasons.

Judge Patrick Moloney approved the settlement saying the boy's family would be 'foolish to reject such an offer'.

Mr Moloney told the grandparents that they had his 'heartfelt sympathy' for the tragic loss of their daughter.

He said: 'It is terrible when a young woman has a common illness, rings up a telephone help line, does not get it and dies.'

He added: 'It is a shocking incident.'

Mr Moloney told the boy he would be well cared for.

He said: 'What we are all here to do is to make sure, as far as we can, that you are properly looked after as your mummy would have wanted.'

Claire Watson, for Care UK - which was sued as successor to the liabilities of the helpline provider - offered the company's 'sincerest condolences' to the woman's parents.

She praised 'the truly exceptional love and care' they had lavished on their grandson since their daughter's death.

Miss Watson said procedures had been reviewed so that such deaths were not allowed to happen in the future.

She said: 'Lessons have been learned and what happened has been scrutinised exceptionally carefully to make sure it is not repeated.'

A Care UK spokesperson said: 'We express our sincerest condolences to the family of this patient. At the time of her death in 2008, the out of hours service which provided advice was run by Suffolk Integrated Healthcare Limited, which later became a part of Harmoni – a company that Care UK acquired in November 2012. This has been a very complex case which we understand will have caused great distress and we are pleased that the court has now approved the damages agreed between the parties. We want to make reassurances that every aspect of care has been scrutinised and lessons have been learnt by all of the organisations involved.'