'Care was top notch, the problem was space'

Joshua lived only 53 days after being born 16 weeks premature at St Helier Hospital in Carshalton. He needed a heart operation soon after birth but there were no intensive care spaces at the nearest specialist centre at Great Ormond Street Hospital.

After three weeks he was taken by ambulance to St Michael's hospital in Bristol. His operation was cancelled twice because of a lack of staff before the 20-minute procedure went ahead. He was ferried back to St Helier Hospital the next day. But two weeks after the 240-mile round trip he contracted a bowel infection and died.

Mrs Harvey, 33, a paramedic and her husband, Gary, 43, an ambulance driver, feel the delay and long journey played a role in their son's death. Mrs Harvey said: "His consultant believed the delay in his operation was a contributing factor."

Mrs Harvey, of Crawley, has been unable to have another baby and has suffered a series of miscarriages since Joshua's death.

She was full of praise for medical staff who tried to help her son but said more funding for cots was needed.

"The care he received from the doctors and nurses was top notch," she said. "The problem was simply one of intensive care space. There is just not enough funding in that particular area."