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.

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.

"I couldn't even walk to the end of my garden. The hardest thing for me was watching other dads with their kids and not being able to kick a football around with my 11-year-old son."

It was during a conversation with his GP that Mr Singleton discovered that if he went private he could get the operation done within two weeks.

After researching private clinics, Mr Singleton realised that if he had the surgery done abroad it would cost half the price it would in the UK.

He said: "Thankfully I had some money saved up for a rainy day - I guess it came a little sooner than I thought.

"But if I didn't have the money, I don't know what I would have done."

Mr Singleton was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis nine years ago and his hip joint had deteriorated to the point where it was grinding into his pelvis, making his right leg one and a quarter inches shorter than his left.

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.