Op cancelled at the last minute for girl

Helen Barker, chief operating officer at Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Trust, said: “Overnight there was the unusual situation where all the paediatric beds in two of our neighbouring hospital trusts – Bradford and Manchester – were full with very poorly young patients with breathing difficulties and we had been asked to take some of their emergency patients who needed beds urgently.

“There are some very nasty childhood chest infections around at the moment and, as ever, in these circumstances these children have to take priority on clinical need.

“We are sorry to have had to cancel a planned operation at such short notice but hope to reinstate it at the earliest possible time for the family and have assured them their child will receive priority treatment from us. ”

Mahjohbeen said she had sympathy with doctors who had to prioritise the most urgent children but she said she was still concerned at the lack of capacity.

She said she feared the incident was a sign of things to come, if hospital chiefs got their way and moved most services to Calderdale.

She added: “Myra-Sofia’s ear is not affecting her day-to-day and there are children that are far more important than my daughter, so I do understand – it’s the fact that they are cutting back on services so much.

“Where does it leave people in the local vicinity?

“Have they thought this plan to move everything out of Huddersfield through – where will our patients go? People need to be aware of this.

“I’m passionate that they shouldn’t be moving things away from Huddersfield.

“We’re one of the lucky ones as it’s only a 15-minute drive from Birkby to Halifax but for some this could have taken them all day.”

Karl Deitch, founder of Let’s Save HRI, said the incident was a worrying sign of things to come.

“This shows just how tight hospital capacity is,” he said. “Yet the CCGs want to reduce bed numbers drastically.

“They are doing so because they want to be pioneers but without any substantive evidence to support their plans, other than from Alaska!

“They are taking a massive gamble...with people lives. They have one chance to get this right. Just one.”