When you go through that tunnel it is dark, but there is light at the other end

John McCaul

At the start of the journey on Eurostar from Ashford International rail terminal the four men and five women were outnumbered four or five times by the press pack of French and English journalists.

They had no idea they would attract so much attention.

"I can't believe the amount of interest from the newspapers," said Sheila Balderstone, a 68-year-old grandmother from east Kent.

She was travelling to La Louviere Hospital for a hip operation after waiting 14 months for surgery in the UK.

She said: "I'm happy to go to France and very, very hopeful, and hope when I come back I will have no pain."

Visitors

Good food is available for patients

Mrs Mrs Balderstone is hoping her husband will travel to see her during her stay in France, which could be up to two weeks.

John McCaul, a 64-year-old retired postman from the Isle of Wight, is having a knee joint replaced at La Louviere.

He admitted to being a bit nervous before boarding the train.

He said: "I think everybody going over there feels a little bit apprehensive.

"When you go through that tunnel it is dark, but there is light at the other end of the tunnel, and that is what we are hoping for."

The patients will have the services of translators during their stay, and everything will be explained to them in English, much to the relief of Barbara Sturgess, 63, who is having a knee joint replacement.

She said: "I can probably understand more French than I can speak."

Good deal

Despite the combined total of travel expenses, hospital charges and translators' fees, the Channel Primary Care Group insists it is cheaper to send the patients abroad for surgery than treat them in private hospitals in the UK. But they would not reveal the total cost of the package.

Hospital staff welcomed the patients

The Department of Health says this is a short term solution to easing the waiting times dilemma while capacity - more equipment, new buildings and extra staff - is built up in the UK.

Channel's chief executive Peter Huntley was in an optimistic mood when he faced a sceptical media at a press conference at a hotel in Ashford just before boarding the Eurostar.

He said: "I have been extremely impressed with the facilities at La Louviere, and the levels of service that staff there are able to offer us.

"I am confident that our patients will share this view."

On board the train the patients were subjected to a queue of journalists stretching back two carriages. Each reporter was allotted five minutes to quiz the travellers.

This unusual spectacle hardly met with the approval of other passengers who had no idea that Fleet Street was about to descend on them.

On arrival in Lille the patients were met with a modern building looking more like a hotel than a hospital.

Little sparrow

Edith Piaf music was piped through reception where staff were polite and courteous, and a tropical fish tank provided a welcome diversion for anxious patients.

There are no wards, each patient has their own room, complete with satellite television.

There are modern operating theatres and the hospital menu has been specially translated into English for the British visitors.

Channel is sending about 200 people to Europe for operations between now and the end of March. It is already looking beyond Lille to German hospitals.

Mr Huntley said: "This will make a difference to 200 people whose other places have been freed up so we are making a difference to 400 people.

"This is not just about the EU directive, this is about patient care while we are building up capacity in the UK."

The first contingent of patients, mostly in their sixties, will be staying at La Louviere from anything from a few days to three weeks.

Test areas

They are all from the test bed areas of east Kent, West Sussex and Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight.

The patients were quizzed on the train

Each patient's local health authority is meeting the cost of treatment.

The patients may have been overwhelmed with the press interest in the UK on this inaugural trip, but they had more surprises when they saw the local newspaper in Lille.

Their visit had made front page headlines, saying the trip showed "a great recognition of the strength of the French health service."

Speaking to local residents, there is no resentment that the British are coming to Lille for treatment.

They do not feel the French are losing out, in fact it seems to be the beginning of a new entente cordiale.