A woman still suffering from a mystery illness after a tropical holiday from hell could be forced to use her compensation to pay for treatment.

Jeannette Worster, 61, is still suffering from severe stomach cramps - seven months after returning from a Barbados hotel where there was a mass outbreak of food poisoning.

Any compensation she and her husband Dennis may receive from the travel agent will be spent on private medical tests - to jump a year-long NHS waiting list at two Sussex hospitals.

Mrs Worster, of Dunlop Close in Sayers Common near Haywards Heath, said: "It really grieves me that I will have to carry on not knowing what is wrong with me for all that time.

"My generation have paid into the NHS all our lives and it is failing us."

The couple forked out £2,130 for a dream two-week trip to the Barbados Beach Club to celebrate their 20th anniversary in March.

First Mr Worster was ill for 48 hours with diarrhoea and sickness before his wife fell ill and had to spend the last eight days of her holiday in bed.

The hotel, where birds regularly swooped down on diners' plates in the restaurant and the all-day buffet was close to a pipe smelling of sewage, was later closed down.

Around 100 holidaymakers are threatening to take up to six travel agents to court for compensation.

Next week the Worsters expect to hear if they will receive thousands of pounds from Upton Travel of London.

If their action is successful, Mrs Worster will spend £1,000 of it on tests to examine her digestive system.

If not, she will have to wait up to a year for a routine appointment at the Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath or the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton - three times longer than waiting lists in London.

She said: "We are both retired and can't afford to pay for private tests if we don't get compensation.

"If not I'm going to London for the tests because I haven't been left with much a choice.

"I can't wait for a year, it is far too long."

Mrs Worster has been referred to the Hospital for Tropical Diseases in London who want her to have the tests.

Yesterday a spokesman for the Princess Royal Hospital said waiting times for tests, which are only carried out by one doctor, could be up to a year depending on each patient.

A spokesman for Brighton Healthcare NHS Trust confirmed the wait at the Royal Sussex was similar.

He said: It depends entirely on the patient and their condition.

"It has been known for years that London is overprovided with services per head per population than anywhere else in the country."