The parents of a desperately-ill baby are having to make a daily 160-mile round trip to see him because of a shortage of intensive care beds close to home.

Three-week-old Cameron Greenwood caught an infection which led to breathing difficulties, and was taken to Bradford Royal Infirmary.

He was thought to be improving but he suddenly took a turn for the worse and started gasping for breath.

Doctors in Bradford gave him emergency treatment but then shocked his parents Robert Greenwood and Kelly Singh when they said Cameron would have to be taken to the Queen's Medical Centre, Nottingham, for intensive care as the regional unit in Leeds was full.

Robert, 36, and Kelly, 28, of Allerton Grange Drive, Allerton, have now spent the last week making a four-hour round trip every day to visit their sick son.

They couldn't stay at the Nottingham hospital as they have two other children, Connor, six, and Callum, three.

Mr Greenwood decided to speak out to highlight the shortage of paediatric intensive care beds in the district.

"I think it is disgusting Cameron had to go to Nottingham," he said. "Why isn't money going into building a paediatric intensive care unit at BRI?

"There are great plans for rebuilding the city centre but the money should be put into something worthwhile."

Cameron was born on December 11 at BRI weighing 5lb 11oz but he picked up the infection which quickly led to breathing problems.

His parents were so worried about his breathing that they took him to A&E at BRI where he was admitted and put on oxygen. Doctors diagnosed bronchiolitis, a contagious viral infection of the airways that causes difficulty in breathing.

After treatment he seemed to be getting better but on New Year's Eve he woke for a feed gasping for breath.

Mr Greenwood said: "It was panic stations and we thought he was really going downhill. He had to be sedated and put on a ventilator to be stabilised. Doctors said they could do nothing else for him in Bradford and he needed intensive care treatment.

"They said he would possibly have to go to Leeds but they did not have a bed so they had to look further afield.

"They called Leicester, Nottingham and London and the nearest bed was Nottingham. Doctors said trying to find a bed was a common problem."

A paediatric intensive care team was dispatched in an ambulance from Nottingham to transfer the seriously-ill baby to the Queen's Medical Centre just before midnight.

His parents were left behind to make the trip the next day.

"I was upset but we knew he was in the best hands," said Mr Greenwood.

"We are really grateful to the staff in Bradford and we are not criticising the doctors - they can't do anything without the right machines."

The worried parents have had to rely on relatives to help them care for their two other boys to allow them to travel to Nottingham each day to visit Cameron.

Often the couple have only had time to spend an hour with their sick baby before having to set off home. "It has been very upsetting for us all," said Mr Greenwood.

Cameron, who is out of intensive care, was due to be transferred back to BRI sometime this weekend.

A spokesman for Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust said it had been the 'safest option' to transfer Cameron to Nottingham.

He said: "We provide highly specialised care for babies from across the Yorkshire region and beyond.

"A great deal of work goes into predicting demand but sometimes when we are at full capacity, as we were on New Year's Eve, the safest option is for patients to be transferred to other specialist units rather than wait for appropriate facilities to become available here.

"We are very sorry for any inconvenience caused to families when transfers of this type are required, but they are always done in the best interests of the patient."

A Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust spokesman said: ""We do not provide a paediatric intensive care service in Bradford because young children's needs are better served at a regional centre, where very highly-specialised services and medical staff are available. The nearest one is Leeds."