Royal London hospital neonatal unit

Nathan Southworth was born in May at just 24 weeks and five days gestation after unsuccessful efforts by doctors to delay his arrival. His parents Michaela and Darren wanted him to be born at the Royal London hospital in the city’s east end, near their home. But neither it nor any other hospital had a cot in their neonatal unit to take him, so he ended up being born 30 miles away in Luton instead Photograph: Martin Argles/Guardian

Premature baby Nathan Southworth in an incubator, with mother Michaela, at the Royal London hospital neonatal unit Photograph: Martin Argles/Guardian

Charge nurse Benjie Bermundo cares for one-day-old Amy Makumbi in the Royal London’s neonatal unit after helping transfer her from the Queen's hospital in Romford, Essex. Amy was born at full-term but suffering from a serious breathing problem called persistent pulmonary hypertension, which can cause brain damage and even death, and needed high-level care at the Royal London Photograph: Martin Argles/Guardian

Paramedic Grahame Pickford, who helped move baby Amy Makumbi to the Royal London to receive high-level care Photograph: Martin Argles/Guardian

Dr Nandiran Ratnavel is the consultant in charge of the London neonatal transfer service based at the Royal London, and also one of the team of senior doctors in the hospital’s neonatal unit. The unit offers intensive care to babies who are sick because they have been born very prematurely or suffered complications while being born Photograph: Martin Argles/Guardian

A nurse tends to a baby in the Royal London's neonatal unit. Most of the babies are very unwell and need constant medical attention and monitoring. The growing demand for neonatal care is so great that the unit rarely has a spare cot. London hospitals operate a mutual support system in neonatal medicine whereby one which has spare cot space will take a baby even if they were born on the other side of the city Photograph: Martin Argles/Guardian

Angelina Bayraktar cuddles her baby Emre at the Royal London’s neonatal unit. The baby charity Bliss claims that a nationwide lack of neonatal nurses, and resulting pressure on the staff of neonatal units, means that some families find that nurses do not have time to help them take their baby out of its incubator to have a cuddle as often as they would like Photograph: Martin Argles/Guardian

Baby Archie is moved from Kingston hospital in Surrey to St George’s hospital in south London on an elective or non-urgent transfer by the London neonatal transfer service. The service has one team which does emergency transfers and another which undertakes elective moves Photograph: Martin Argles/Guardian

Doctors and nurses who work in the Royal London’s neonatal unit gather round for a case conference to decide what is the best treatment for a particularly sick baby Photograph: Martin Argles/Guardian