OUR thoughts and prayers are with tiny Ethan Currill, the Worcester baby born weighing less than two pounds.

Ethan was born last month when mum Catherine was just 24 weeks pregnant. Catherine and dad Edward have been through the emotional wringer as Ethan fights for life.

The little battler is in Birmingham Women’s Hospital where, according to Catherine, medical staff are “saving his life every day” as he endures a series of operations and other treatment.

It is a time of trauma most of us cannot imagine going through – yet the situation Catherine found herself in when it became clear she was going into labour was made all the more difficult because the Worcestershire Royal Hospital does not have the facilities to cope with such a premature baby.

The mum, from Lower Wick, ended up giving birth in Newport, South Wales – more than 70 miles away from Worcester.

We have no doubt the care she received at the Royal Gwent Hospital was second to none. But there must be a better way of dealing with emergencies like hers.

Obviously not every hospital in the country can have specialist equipment to deal with every conceivable medical emergency.

But we would hope an area like Worcestershire should be able to cope in cases such as this.

Perhaps it is an issue in need of closer examination by health chiefs both here and in Whitehall.

In the meantime, we wish the Currills all the luck in the world.