A woman who claims she was left in agony after an operation performed without permission is taking legal action against a health trust.

Barbara Doe says she was admitted to hospital for one night for a routine operation to correct a hammer toe on her left foot.

When she woke from the anaesthetic both her feet were in plaster.

She said she had nothing wrong with her right foot before going into the Queen Victoria Hospital, Lewes, ten months ago.

Her solicitor has lodged a complaint against Brighton Healthcare Trust.

Mrs Doe, 90, of Cliffe High Street, Lewes, said: "It has been a great ordeal.

"I went in for one night to have two toes straightened on my left foot and I came to in the morning to find I had two legs in plaster. They had operated on both feet.

"It was a dreadful nightmare. The pain was indescribable. It was such a shock to wake up and find out what they had done.

"I had to have morphine because the pain was so bad and I can't describe how upsetting it was.

"I went in for one night and I ended up staying in there for a week.

"The operation should not have been done. I'm worse off now because I am almost crippled.

"I can't get my shoes on, so I have had to have some made. But it is still terribly hard to walk in them."

Mrs Doe is meeting her solicitor next week to finalise details of her claim.

A trust spokesman said: "Brighton Health Care NHS Trust is not in a position to comment on any specific legal claim in progress.

"The trust is always concerned if a patient expresses dissatisfaction with any aspect of their care and recognises that it is deeply distressing for any patient to have an unexpectedly poor outcome from an intervention.

"The trust is committed to exploring any such concerns, to see if there are lessons that can be learned.

"It is good practice for careful checks to be made on several occasions to ensure that no patient undergoes an operation for which consent has not been obtained.

"This normally includes more than one member of staff checking that written consent has been provided for the proposed procedure before any operation begins.

"Certainly such checks are routinely carried out in hospitals in the Brighton area."