Victims of bungled eye operations at a Sussex hospital are still waiting for compensation almost two years later.

Nineteen elderly patients had the wrong drops injected into their eyes during what should have been a routine cataract operation at Gatwick Park Hospital in February 1999.

The liquid contained a preservative which can damage the eye. The surgeon who carried out the operations realised what had happened a day after when some patients' corneas became swollen. The hospital has admitted liability.

It is estimated that compensation payouts will reach £300,000, but to date there has only been one reported payment of £15,000 to a widow in her 80s.

Other victims are now wondering when, or even if, they will get theirs.

Eleanor Jeffery, 69, of Sullington Close, Moulsecoomb, Brighton, said: "I already suffer from emphysema. I just don't know when I will see anything from this to compensate me for the problems I have suffered.

"The hospital has admitted liability. I have a medical report from the consultant ophthalmic surgeon at the Sussex Eye Hospital which says, 'There is no doubt Mrs Jeffery has sustained corneal injury in her left eye as a result of the preservative'.

"I was shocked when the report used the phrase 'if she lives long enough' when referring to further possible damage. I know one person has died before receiving compensation. I hope that does not happen to me.

"I have received a letter from my solicitors saying they require more detailed information and will have to instruct a barrister. How long will all this take?"

Mrs Jeffery said she knew something had gone wrong immediately after the operation.

She said the same operation on her right eye at the Royal Sussex County Hospital, Brighton, improved her vision within hours.

After the Gatwick Park blunder, patients complained they were in pain and their eyes felt worse than before.

An independent inquiry in 1999 blamed the surgeon, staff at Bupa-run Gatwick Park and Brighton Health Care Trust.

Its report said NHS chiefs' determination to contract out certain services to the private sector contributed to the blunder.

A spokesman for Brighton solicitors Donne Mileham and Haddock, who have been representing some patients, said: "Medical claims of this sort generally take an awfully long time.

"We have received medical reports on individual patients but they were not detailed enough. We have kept all our clients fully up to date.

"We are confident that once we get the detailed information it will result in a greater payout to our clients."