A toddler was in agony for weeks after a sunny Spanish holiday turned into a nightmare.

Three-year-old Chelsea Marsh slipped by a swimming pool in Tamaran, Gran Canaria, and broke her left thighbone.

Her angry parents claim they received little help and shoddy, even dangerous treatment from the Spanish healthcare system.

Hotel staff refused to call an ambulance for Chelsea - who spent six weeks in hospital when she finally got home - and her mother Gillian Berry was instead forced to flag down a taxi, which took her to a hospital 90km away.

It was only several days later that they were taken to a hospital which was much closer to the hotel where Chelsea, Ms Berry and her partner Simon Marsh were staying.

Ms Berry, 21, of Squadron Drive, Durrington, said: "We were treated appallingly all along the line, which meant Chelsea was put through more pain than she should have been."

When the youngster slipped, Ms Berry was holding her hand and fell on top of her.

She lifted the screaming youngster and carried her towards the hotel reception, where staff told her to go outside and call a taxi.

The first driver who would accept them drove them for two hours to the Materno Infital in Las Palmas, where Chelsea was put in plaster without being given pain relief.

Mr Marsh, back at the hotel, was told by their tour rep that they had gone to the wrong hospital and should have been referred to the nearby private facility, Clinic Rocca.

Although the family were due to fly home the following day, their travel insurers revealed Chelsea could not board the flight because her cast meant she had to lie down on a stretcher and there was no room.

Ms Berry said: "The hospital was filthy, the doctors didn't speak English and weren't helpful at all and we didn't know when we would be able to go home.

"The reps seemed unconcerned that we had no money and nothing to eat, and said we were too far away to anyone to come and see us. We should have been able to rely on them in a situation like this."

Three days after the accident, the family was taken to the Clinic Rocca, where conditions were much better but where doctors said Chelsea had been transported wrongly.

They finally flew home six days after the fall when a suitable space on a flight was available, via a change of plane in Madrid, which meant Chelsea suffered additional pain through two landings.

Ms Berry said: "She was screaming and shouting for hours. The sound of those screams still haunts me."

After touching down at Heathrow they went straight to Worthing Hospital, where doctors removed the plaster to find Chelsea's legs were bleeding from the way it had been applied.

After staying in the hospital for six weeks, she has now returned to health but her parents believe they should have been treated better to prevent unnecessary inconvenience and pain.

Mr Marsh, 23, said: "Our trauma is nothing compared to what she had to suffer."

Sunset Holidays, which organised the holiday, investigated the complaint and apologised on behalf of reception staff for directing the family to the wrong hospital.

However, the firm backed their holiday rep in Gran Canaria, saying she had done everything she could to look after their welfare.

Consumer affairs co-ordinator Jo Baddeley had arranged for transport, fresh clothes, a transfer to the Clinica Roca and extra accommodation time at the Tamaran Apartments.