In September, my son Finlay was born three months premature, weighing in at just 2lb 7oz.

It is no exaggeration to say that he and I both owe our lives to the NHS.

To hear of plans to play with our NHS which could see the specialist services Finlay needed cut back makes me deeply fearful for other sick and premature babies and their mums.

Finlay has already benefited from world class treatment and care which I cannot imagine being any better.

He has received neonatal intensive care in Liverpool, (where he was inadvertently born), specialist inpatient care at both University Hospital Lewisham and Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich, and an excellent range of community support here in Charlton.

Midwives, doctors, neonatal and foetal consultants, ambulance staff, hundreds of specialist neonatal nurses and many more have all worked as a highly efficient team to make sure Finlay is the healthy, happy little boy he is now.

He will continue to need these services as he grows bigger and stronger.

Bringing in private firms and breaking up the NHS could prevent the team-working which has meant so much to Finlay, and risks putting profits before patients.

Worse still, there may no longer be the same level of vital specialist care available.

The charity Bliss has found that a third of neonatal units in England are cutting their nursing workforce, significantly affecting the care of premature and sick babies.

This comes after promises from the government that nursing jobs would not be lost and that frontline services wouldn’t be affected by NHS "efficiency savings".

Finlay will grow up knowing how important the NHS is to all of us.

I implore readers to oppose the reforms on the table - for Finlay, and for all our children.

Emily Boughen
By email