FURIOUS mum Antoinette Wilcox spurned hospital chiefs after her daughter's vital operation was postponed twice.

Surgeons were unable to perform the lengthy six-hour operation on Katie, 12, because her mother claimed there was a staff shortage at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital.

Katie still needs to have her curved spine corrected and now her frustrated mum, is demanding that managers reserve a bed for her daughter in the intensive care unit after the operation.

Mrs Wilcox, from Perranwell Station, near Truro, said: "The first time I felt great disappointment, the second time I felt deeply saddened and very resentful."

She explained that each time they cancelled the operation it had been at the last minute. On both occasions Katie had been dressed in her nightgown and before the second cancellation she had even been given pre-medication tablets.

At the start Mrs Wilcox was thrilled to get Katie into the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital because the surgeons have a very good reputation for work in this field, but now she believes the service is simply "diabolical."

Katie is having to wait over nine months to have the operation which is now scheduled for September 3, but even this is not guaranteed.

Hospital managers still maintain the right to cancel with the minimum amount of notice.

Mrs Wilcox said: "This is very upsetting and I feel that they must go through with it now. If they refuse for the third time then I will seek compensation for a private operation."

When the operation was cancelled for the second time on July 31 Antoinette consulted hospital staff for the reason and she was told that there were not enough beds available

Following a hunch she asked to be led to the intensive care unit and found that there were two beds empty.

She said: "I had this feeling that they weren't telling the complete truth, it's not the staff's fault they were great.

"It just doesn't make sense to have two beds empty as they are clearly needed. A lot of other families must be going through the same problems."

She added: "Poor management is at the root of this problem and this has caused a lot of stress to everyone concerned."

Mrs Wilcox has three children, Chris, aged 17, Will, aged 15, and another daughter, Isobel, aged two.

It has not been easy time for any of the children and Chris was very upset when he heard that the managers may have been delicate with the truth.

He said: "There were two beds free, so why could Katie not have one?

"All this waiting has not done Katie any good whatsoever!"

Mrs Wilcox was anxious to be interviewed because she felt that this was a very important matter which should be given as wide a coverage as possible.

She said: "Local councillors and MPs must take genuine interest in this crisis in the NHS and seek to find some resolve and quickly."

The Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital have declined to comment on the case, but a representative has sent a letter appreciating the distress that it has caused the family.

They will not, however, be able to guarantee a bed in the intensive care unit on September 3.