Manufacturers of an artificial hip, alleged to be faulty, have promised to pay for "life-long follow-up" treatment for anyone needing operations resulting from the problem joint.

The announcement came after bosses from 3M Healthcare met the Health Secretary Frank Dobson.

Dr Richard Spiers: private operations will prevent further burdening the NHS

The company had already promised to pay for operations needed to replace any faulty hips.

A company statement read: "These operations may be carried out either in a BUPA hospital or an NHS hospital if the patient prefers.

"The company commitment also extends to life-long follow-up of patients implanted with this device."

3M has also supplied a list of hospitals supplied with the faulty hip replacement.

More than 4,000 people are thought to have been given the artificial joint and doctors have begun contacting them to establish if they need new operations.

The artificial hips were used between August 1991 and March 1997.

The company's medical director, Dr Richard Spiers, says he hopes the operations can be undertaken quickly.

Dr Spiers said: "We certainly want to deal with it rapidly, for the best benefit of the patients."

No need to panic

Artificial hips should last for around 20 years. But the faulty 3M 'capital' hip has been found to work lose from its 'cement' fitting and eat into healthy bone.

The highest number of 3M Capital implants, 515, were fitted at Lancaster Moor Hospital, Lancaster. This was followed by St Mary's, Newport, on the Isle of Wight with 504, the Royal Oldham, Greater Manchester, 292, and Southampton General 272.

Despite the obvious concerns of those who received the artificial joint, Ian Lowden, an orthopaedic surgeon, says there is no need to panic.

Ian Lowden: patients can be treated

"The first thing to say is that it's not an emergency," he said.

"There is time to get patients up to the clinics and get X-rays and discuss with them whether they've got symptoms and whether something needs to be done or not."

The 3M 'capital' hip was one of the cheaper models on the market and only 2% of all hip patients received them in the period in which they were on sale.

The estimated cost to the manufacturers of replacing patients' hips in private hospitals is around £20m.

Unlike new drugs, which only get a license after clinical trials, there is presently no mandatory system for approving medical devices, such as artificial hips, before they go on sale.

But that will change in June, when an EC directive comes into force and companies have to prove that their products work.

The 3M list

• Lancaster Moor Hospital (Garnett Clinic) 515
• St Mary's Hospital, Newport Isle of Wight 504
• Royal Oldham Hospital, Oldham 292
• Southampton General Hospital (Pharm Stores), Southampton 272
• Royal Sussex County Hospital, Brighton 264
• Princess Margaret Hospital, Swindon 252
• Royal Lancaster Infirmary, Lancaster 249
• Kidderminster General Hospital 247
• Bassetlaw DGH, Worksop 239
• Scarborough General Hospital 189
• Westmoreland County Hospital, Kendal 175
• Lancaster and Lakeland Nuffield 129
• Princess Alexandra, Wroughton, Swindon 120
• Harlow Wood Orthopaedic Hospital, Mansfield 112
• Lord Mayor Trelear Hospital, Hampshire 111
• Sussex Nuffield Hospital, Brighton 89
• Devonshire Royal Hospital, Buxton 84
• BUPA Chaleybeate Hospital, Southampton 78
• Royal Halifax Infirmary 76
• Conquest Hospital, St Leonards on Sea 72
• Duchess of Kent Military Hospital, Catterick Garrison 51
• Harvard Healthcare, Wakefield 49
• BUPA Belvedere Hospital, Scarborough 39
• Royal Free Hospital, London 38
• Eastbourne DGH 38
• Worcester Royal Infirmary 32
• Hinchingbrooke Hospital, Huntingdon 30
• Ridgeway Hospital, Wroughton, Swindon 28
• BMI Park Hospital, Nottingham 27
• Orchard Hospital, Isle of Wight 27
• Chesterfield Royal Hospital 26
• RAF Hospital, Halton, Aylesbury 26
• Royal Sea Bathing Hospital, Margate 25
• Northwick Park Hospital, Harrow 20
• Wessex Nuffield, Eastleigh 19
• South Cleveland Hospital 16
• Grimsby DGH 15
• Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, Stanmore 11
• Medway Hospital, Kent 11
• Nottingham City Hospital 11
• Orpington Hospital 8
• Amersham General Hospital 8
• Woodlands Orthopaedic Hospital, Leeds 7
• George Eliot Hospital, Nuneaton 5
• St James University Hospital, Leeds 5
• Doncaster Royal Infirmary 5
• Black Notley Hospital, Braintree 5
• East Surrey Healthcare NHS Trust, Redhill 5
• South Warwickshire Hospital, Warwick 5
• Wrightington Hospital, Wigan 5
• Cheviot and Wandsbeck NHS Trust, Ashington 4
• East Yorkshire NHS Trust, Nottingham 4
• Medical Supply Flight, Wroughton, Swindon 4
• Chiltern Hospital, Great Missenden 3
• Wycombe DGH, High Wycombe 3
• Milton Keynes General Hospital 3
• Queen Elizabeth Hospital, King's Lynn 3
• King Edward VII Hospital, Sheffield 3
• Andrew Janic FRCS 3
• Bishop Auckland General Hospital, County Durham 2
• Montagu Hospital, Mexborough 2
• Goole and District 2
• St Leonards Hospital, Hampshire 2
• Kettering General Hospital 2
• Kidderminster Health Centre 2
• Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Hospital, Oswestry 2
• South Birmingham Trauma Unit 2
• Hospital of St Cross, Rugby 2
• Chesterfield and West Derbyshire Royal Hospital 2
• BMI Highfield Hospital, Rochdale 1
• Isle of Wight Private Hospital 1
• Glenfield Hospital, Leicester 1
• Esperance Private Hospital 1
• Essex Nuffield Hospital 1
• Slade Hospital, Oxford 1
• Medical Supplies Agency, Luggershall 1
• Cromwell Clinic, Huntingdon 1
• Airedale General Hospital, Steeton 1
• Scarsdale Hospital, Chesterfield 1
• Kings Mill Hospital, Sutton in Ashfield 1
• North Thames Anglia Supplies Division 1
• St Bartholomews Hospital, London 1
• IBH Doncaster Hospital 1

A spokesman for the Department of Health in Northern Ireland said it was "very unlikely" that any people had been fitted with 3M Capital implants in Ulster hospitals.
 

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