THOUSANDS of people have backed a campaign calling for a seriously ill teenager to be transferred from a Hampshire hospital to a children’s department closer to home.

Bethanie Rowlands is being cared for in Southampton General Hospital – more than 100 miles from her family home.

The schoolgirl has spent the past nine months in a specialist child unit for treatment of a long-term condition which causes severe vomiting and painful joint problems.

The illness leaves her vulnerable to dislocated bones and has sometimes restricted her to a wheelchair.

Relatives desperately want her to return closer to home in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, where they say she would recover more quickly with her family around her.

The Tremona Road hospital requested a transfer to her local hospital in Bristol three weeks ago – but an arrangement has yet to be secured.

Now her mother has made an impassioned plea for her daughter to return home.

Nicky Rowlands, 42, of Drybrook, Gloucestershire, said: “We just want her to get home and get the treatment she needs. She can’t spend the rest of her life in hospital.”

Daily Echo:

It comes as nearly 3,500 people have signed the “Free Bethanie Rowlands” petition calling for health chiefs to help her.

Nicky said Bethanie has suffered a series of painful symptoms since birth including gastric and joint problems.

But she says the youngster’s health deteriorated after an operation to remove her tonsils in April 2014 at Gloucester Royal Hospital.

The schoolgirl received treatment there and at nearby University Hospitals Bristol Trust but was transferred to Southampton last autumn to receive more specialist care, which involves being fed through a tube.

This can also be done at home but would need a community health team to administer it and it must be done by a local hospital.

The family say she has Ehlers Danlos Syndrome III, a rare genetic condition leading to hypermobility of joints, fragile skin that breaks or bruises easily and gastric problems.

But specialists have diagnosed her with Somatoform Disorder, a psychological condition which causes bodily symptoms.

A spokesman for University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust said: “Bethanie has been with us since being referred to us from her local hospital and has made significant improvement during her admission but continues to require specialist nutritional care.

“We understand her family’s desire for her to receive care closer to home and, with their agreement, have referred her to Bristol and are currently in the process of finalising her transfer.

“In the meantime, we would be happy to address any concerns Bethanie’s family have about the care she has received with us and hope to resolve this situation as quickly as possible for her and her family.”

No one at University Hospitals Bristol Trust was available for comment.