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Ms Davis, who works part-time as an accident and emergency nurse at the Frenchay Hospital in Bristol, said that she was devastated when she was told there were not enough beds.

“My husband and I were in tears,” she said. “When our six-year-old son Liam asked what was wrong we told him Ella’s operation had been cancelled again and he said we should tell Gordon Brown.”

The family are waiting for another surgery date. In the meantime, Ella is having to take adult doses of medication to control her blood pressure.

“We have asked the doctors if she really needs the surgery as she is so happy at the moment and is running around like a normal little girl, but she could drop down dead at any moment,” Ms Davis said.

“Twice I have been told that she may not make it through the night and there have been times when I have gone into her room in the morning and wondered whether she’d still be breathing.

She called on the Government to put more money into the NHS before a child died on the waiting list.

“I have worked in the NHS for 22 years so I know what happens in hospitals,” she said. “I cannot fault the doctors and nurses for all they have done for Ella – she would not be alive today without them.

“I believe Ella is the tip of the iceberg and that there are many other families out there that have had their operations cancelled many more times but have not spoken out about it.

“This is a national problem, there are not enough resources in the NHS and it is about prioritising.

“It is a matter of time before a child dies on the waiting list and I don’t want it to be Ella. If that does happen the Government will have blood on their hands.”

Michele Narey, of the University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust, said that she could not discuss individual cases.

She added: “The decision to cancel any patient for any procedure is taken extremely seriously but is sometimes unavoidable because of the need to effectively manage emergency patients requiring beds on a day-to-day basis.

“We know that cancelling procedures can cause additional stress for patients so we will always seek to avoid this wherever possible.”

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