Little Shea Hughes has taken a step towards getting the life-saving operation after he was flown from the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast to Birmingham Children's Hospital yesterday.

Medics at the specialist unit will now set about building the baby up by getting him to put on weight before he can have the transplant. It is hoped he will be able to join the emergency transplant list in around a week.

His parents Anthony and Lynn Hughes, from the Brownlow area of Craigavon, were by his side yesterday as he was transferred to the English hospital after an agonising wait for a bed to become available.

The five-month-old was born with a blockage affecting his liver function and has spent most of his short life in hospital. He underwent an operation to correct the problem when he was two months old, but it was unsuccessful.

Shea's health has deteriorated rapidly since then. He is now severely jaundiced and his condition is described as "critical".

Mr Hughes said the only way to save his son now is with a liver transplant. He said the couple are "relieved" to take one step further towards that.

" This is the hospital where Shea can get the liver transplant he finally needs. I am so glad we have finally got him a bed here. It is a real relief to us," he said.

"We have been told that in about a week's time, when Shea is built up, he will go straight onto the emergency transplant list. He also needs brain and heart scans."

Once the tot joins the transplant list, he could get his new liver "later that day or in a couple of weeks".

"That is something no-one knows, I suppose. But if he gets built up and the transplant is not immediate, I would like to get him home for a while. .

"We just met a wee girl the last time Shea was here for his operation who had had a transplant and she is doing so well. It gives us great hope."