A woman is furious after waiting three years to find the cause of the excruciating pain in her left knee.

In the meantime, Valerie Gausden's right knee has developed the same condition, making it agony to walk.

Mrs Gausden, 54, of Freshfield Road, Brighton, says a catalogue of cancellations have delayed the vital keyhole surgery needed to find the cause of the problem.

Both knees keep swelling and fluid has to be drained.

Doctors at Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton have told Mrs Gausden she needs keyhole surgery.

Now she has been told her latest date for the operation has been cancelled because of a bed shortage.

She said: "I went to my GP in 1999 with a painful and swollen knee and he referred me to a consultant at the hospital.

"Six months later I was sent a letter asking if I still wanted to stay on the waiting list. I filled out the form saying yes and sent it back.

"When I hadn't heard anything a few months later I got in contact with the hospital and was told I had been taken off the list. My GP then had to fax a letter over to get me reinstated."

Mrs Gausden was given an appointment in the hospital's rheumatology clinic six months later and was told she needed an MRI scan.

After it, she was referred back to the orthopedic department and told she needed surgery.

Mrs Gausden was booked for an operation at Lewes Victoria Hospital for February 27 and filled out a form beforehand saying she was asthmatic.

But when she arrived for the operation the anaesthetist said he could not go ahead because he didn't have enough back-up if there were any complications because of the asthma.

Mrs Gausden was booked in for a pre-op assessment at the Royal Sussex for March 19 but it was cancelled because the consultant was away.

A second pre-op arranged for April 9 was also called off but eventually a date was set for April 19.

Mrs Gausden got ready to go into hospital for her operation on May 6 but was called a couple of days before to be told there was no space in the theatre for her.

She said: "I'm just fed up with all this messing around. I have been putting up with it and going backwards and forwards for months but I've had enough.

"Now the operation has been cancelled I am going to have to have another pre-op test.

"I just can't plan anything. My husband has been taking days off work here and there and soon he'll have no holiday time left.

"I'm arranging my life to suit these appointments and then they are called off.

"When the knees swell up I am in a lot of pain. The last time I was at the hospital they ended up giving me crutches to use.

"When they are swollen I have to rely on others. I can't drive, I can't do anything.

"I had to give up work a few years ago because of a slipped disc and the problems with my knees only add to this."

A hospital spokesman said: "It was a mistake to send Mrs Gausden to Lewes Hospital for her operation for which we apologise.

"Unfortunately we had to cancel her operation recently because of an influx of emergency cases.

"There are a number of issues around cancelled operations such as bed blocking and recruitment.

"We are in constant talks with social services departments to transfer patients from hospital to nursing and care homes as quickly as possible and are actively trying to recruit more staff.

"It is an issue that affects the whole health community in the South-East."

The spokesman said Mrs Gausden had been booked in for an operation on Tuesday.