The parents of a dying girl have sold their home and moved to South Africa after claiming a North-East hospital cannot give their baby the care she needs.

Lisa and Fintan O'Rourke flew to Pretoria at the weekend after selling their £200,000 Hartlepool home to start a new life where their daughter Brogen will be cared for full time.

She was born with cerebral palsy, is blind and deaf and suffers from epileptic fits. Brogen can't move, is fed through a tube in her stomach and doctors cannot predict how long she will live.

She has had pneumonia six times and her parents are terrified another chest infection could kill her.

Fintan and Lisa say the care Brogen's received from North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Trust is not good enough because they claim staff are under-funded. They say her best chance of survival means emigrating to where specialist help is available.

However, a spokeswoman for North Tees rejected the claims and said staff had worked hard to provide the best possible care for Brogan.

Meanwhile the couple have sold everything to raise the cash for round-the-clock-treatment, which costs £30,000 a year.

The family also started a charitable appeal to raise money to send other cerebal palsy sufferers to South Africa.

The appeal, which asks companies to donate empty ink printer cartridges which are recycled, has already raised thousands of pounds and will continue despite the family's decision to emigrate.

"What annoys me most is that we have worked hard all our lives and paid our taxes but when we plead for help it's not there," said the 35-year-old website designer.

"We are doing what any parent would do. We are talking about a child's life and the hospital is too under funded to give the treatment she needs - they can't even provide the care they said they were going to because they haven't got the money."

Brogen, whose first birthday is later this month, nearly died after she was born because she was starved of oxygen and was kept on a life support machine at North Tees Hospital for 10 days.

Mr O'Rourke blames the hospital and is considering legal action against them.

A spokesman for North Tees said they had offered 25 hours a week care for Brogen and tried to meet the O'Rourke's several times to discuss her care without success.

"We sympathise with the family and understand that as parents they want the best for Brogan, however, we reject the criticisms the family are making," said the spokesman.

"Care is provided on a patient's individual health needs and not on financial grounds. Financial issues have never influenced Brogan's care.