A worried Romford mum has hit out at the NHS in Havering for refusing to fund her little girl’s surgery.

Two-year-old Maisie Wold was born with a light pink birthmark on her face.

As she has grown, it has got slowly darker – and plastic surgeons say it will be harder to treat the longer it is left.

Maisie’s mum Carla, of High Street, was told by a consultant at a Chelmsford hospital that surgery could correct the mark, and that the twice-yearly procedure would be classed as reconstructive.

Carla expected to get a date for her daughter’s first dose of laser surgery – but was dealt a blow 18 months ago when NHS North East London and the City (Nelc), which commissions NHS services for Havering, said it wouldn’t fund it because they classed the surgery as cosmetic.

Carla appealed their decision and was told she’d have a response by August this year.

Two months on, she is still waiting – and time is ticking for Maisie’s mark.

“To keep on top of it, it needs to be done while it’s still quite pink – otherwise she’ll have it forever,” said Carla, 25.

“It’s quite light now but as she grows it’s going to turn purple and lumpy and won’t be very nice to look at. Even now it’s getting darker.”

Carla said she was worried Maisie would be treated differently by other children as she got older if the mark – which is caused by a capillary malformation – didn’t get treated.

“She’s quite withdrawn with other children,” she told the Recorder. “You see her looking at it in the mirror all the time.

“She’ll get my makeup and put on foundation.

“When she gets to school age she’s going to be coming up against other children saying, ‘what is that?’

“She’s going to feel different all her life.”

A spokesperson for Nelc said the organisation would not comment on individual cases.