Tamsin Hough was shunted from one hospital to another and across three regional NHS networks after she went into labour extremely prematurely in February last year.

After only 21 weeks of pregnancy, doctors at her local hospital in Farnborough, Kent, feared that the baby would not be viable, so delayed her labour until 24 weeks, the limit where preterm babies are expected to survive. But because of a lack of specialist staff to deal with her case, Mrs Hough, from Orpington, was confined to a hospital bed for two weeks waiting for a transfer before she was rushed through the night to University College Hospital, London.

After a long and complicated delivery she eventually gave birth to a daughter, Caidence, who weighed only 1lb 6oz. She was immediately put in an incubator to aid her breathing. “The doctors and nurses were really great at UCH,” Mrs Hough said, “but then we were told that Caidence’s cot was needed for another sick baby and we were going to have to choose where to go.”

Mrs Hough, an investment bank administrator, was given a choice of three hospitals, in Lewisham, Pembrey and Medway, none within an hour’s drive of her home. But then she was told that only Medway, in Gillingham, had an available cot.

She said: “Having not even held my baby girl, I had to watch her being dispatched in an ambulance, with all the ‘blues and twos’ [lights and sirens] on, and no room for me because of all the equipment she needed.”

At the hospital it was found that Caidence had become cold on the journey and was vomiting, and unable to keep her temperature. “We were not local patients at the hospital so I was told I could not stay with my baby, which did not seem to make any sense. We had to drive each day to see her,” Mrs Hough said. “We were told we had to go to Farnborough but they only agreed to the transfer if Medway took one of their babies.”

After the transfer Caidence’s weight rose to 4lbs 7oz, when she was able to go home. Mrs Hough said: “She now has chronic lung problems but we’ve been told she will grow out of these and become a healthy girl. It was just so frustrating to be shifted from pillar to post like that, only to end up where you started.”

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