An elderly stroke victim could be forced to stay for eight months at a secure hospital unit while she waits for a placement at a care home.

Priscilla Hankin, 73, has been at the Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath since having a stroke at the end of February.

She was assessed by doctors and social workers who decided in April that because her stroke had left her mentally confused, she should be sent to a care home run by West Sussex County Council.

Confused Her daughter, who is also called Priscilla and who lives in Montpelier Crescent, Brighton, learned this week that the move could take up to three months, meaning her mother could spend up to eight months in hospital.

She said: "I am beside myself and don't know what to do because my mother has been waiting in hospital for months for the funding to come through.

"I am just banging my head against a brick wall and social services never return my calls.

"She is mentally confused and she has been put in a secure ward at the unit because she hates it so much there and wanders.

"She is in a ward that has quite mentally disturbed elderly people in it and some of them scream and shout and it is distressing my mother.

"She has aged ten years since she's been there - before she went in she was not a typical old lady and was very sprightly. Now she is just hunched up in a corner."

Priscilla has been told that there will be a space for her mother at a home in Lindfield but probably not until October.

She has since been in touch with Age Concern and now plans to write to the council's director of social services to demand action.

A West Sussex County Council spokesman said: "We are aware of Mrs Hankin's situation and are working closely with the family to ensure that she can be moved as soon as possible.

"We are hopeful that we can move her within the three months."