A second Sussex toddler has been forced to endure a 120-mile round trip to have her broken arm treated after local hospitals turned her away.

Sydney Tiley was turned away from Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath and the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton.

The three-year-old was eventually operated on at St George's Hospital in Tooting, London, nine hours after her accident.

It is the second time the two hospitals have turned away a child with a broken arm.

The Argus reported how 11-year-old Matthew Hudson from Hassocks also had to be taken to St George's after breaking his wrist.

Sydney's accident happened a few days before Matthew's when she was two weeks short of her third birthday.

She had fallen from a slide at her grandparents' house in East Grinstead and was taken to nearby Queen Victoria Hospital for an X-ray, which showed she had a broken arm and dislocated shoulder.

The hospital does not have the facilities to do the operation so she was referred to the Princess Royal, 30 miles away.

At first surgeons said she would not be able to have the operation for several hours because she had eaten lunch but after an hour Sydney's parents Lucy and Neil were told their daughter would have to be transferred to the Royal Sussex.

This was because the Princess Royal did not deal with children under three.

Later, they were told Brighton had refused to take Sydney as the consultant was apparently busy and did not want to take other cases.

Sydney's consultant rang around other hospitals and eventually a colleague from St George's agreed to do it.

Mrs Tiley, a manager at a catering manufacturer, and her husband, a service manager for a high tech company, had a meeting with Stuart Welling, chief executive of Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS trust, which runs both hospitals.

Mrs Tiley, from Hartfield, said: "He basically told us the trusts had merged earlier this year and the consultant on duty at the time was extremely busy and thought why should he do all the work for the Princess Royal.

"We were so angry our daughter was used to proved a point. It is ridiculous. We were apologised to and told the decision making on the night had been totally wrong."

The Tileys are considering legal action against the trust.

A hospital spokesman said the family had been given a full and unreserved apology.

He said the Princess Royal had not been able to admit children of Sydney's age as inpatients since 1998 when it lost its Royal College of Paediatric accreditation because not enough children were coming for treatment. This meant doctors could not maintain sufficient skill to treat young children safely.

He said: "In 2002 the University Hospitals NHS Trust was formed and took responsibility for the Princess Royal. From that date, young children requiring admission were transferred to either the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Sick Children in Brighton or the Royal Sussex.

"Managers and clinicians in Brighton have been working for a number of years to secure a new children's hospital that will bring all the facilities and staff into one place.

"Sydney should have been transferred to the Royal Sussex County Hospital rather than St George's. Due to the pressure on clinicians in Brighton a decision was made that we regret.

"Once our new plans are in place we will be able to assure parents these circumstances will not be repeated."