Oxfordshire: Trip to France 'spared me NHS wait'

A man crippled with arthritic pain went to France for a hip replacement after being told he would have to wait six months on the NHS - reports the Oxford Times.

Tony Singleton, 47, of Bagley Close in Kennington, decided to pay £6,800 to be treated at a private clinic in Abbeville, northern France, after learning he could have the operation there within a fortnight.

Mr Singleton, who had already been on the waiting list at the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre for five months, was told at the beginning of March he would have to wait even longer.

He said: "I feel the NHS has failed me. I've worked since I was 15 years old and paid all my National Insurance contributions and when I need something, they let me down.

"There was no way I could wait. I had got to the point where I was so crippled by pain that my quality of life was nothing.

The clinic in France Mr Singleton attended is run by English firm People Logistics, who provided door-to-door collection as part of their service.

Managing director Keith Smith said: "Unfortunately there are more and more people who need joint replacement surgery.

"The NHS is failing people and we're disappointed for those that have to use our service."

The Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre has said that the current national waiting time for an orthopaedic inpatient appointment requires patients be seen within 26 weeks, or six months.

A spokesman for the trust said: "In 2005-6, no patients exceeded this target, with the exception of a handful of planned occasions."

However, as Mr Singleton was added to the waiting list in November last year, he would not have been included in these figures.

How can MPs consider rewarding the audit-failing EU with a 60% increase in payments, while people like Mr Singleton aren't getting the vital services they need and have paid for - instead having to raid their savings and pay over again.

Those MPs planning such an unjustified waste of billions of pounds of public money every year instead of investing it in the NHS - or many other useful public purposes - should think again. Or will surely face angry local voters at the next election.