The team will carry out hip and knee surgery

About 300 patients on waiting lists in Merseyside, Lancashire, Cheshire and Cumbria will undergo hip and knee replacement surgery at the Southport and Formby District Hospital.

The Netcare project is thought to be the one of the largest of its kind in the UK.

A 28-bed ward and operating theatre will be built for the surgery in June and July.

The unit will then be used for extra beds at the hospital.

The team of 12 orthopaedic surgeons, nine anaesthetists and both occupational and physiotherapists will work in Britain for three months.

'Same standards'

The doctors even plan to fly back for the six-week check ups and 12-month follow-up appointments.

Sue Thompson, project director for the Cumbria and Lancashire Strategic Health Authority and the Cheshire and Merseyside Strategic Health Authority said: "Clinical teams are only recruited from countries which have the same standards as the NHS.

"The South African team that will conduct the hip and knee operations will be integrated into the existing hospital service and will be subject to the same scrutiny and supervision as medical staff in the UK.

"The NHS has a long tradition of working with clinicians from overseas and has a great deal to learn from their expertise."

Last year a team of Netcare surgeons travelled from South Africa to the North West to carry out more than 800 cataract operations.

Operation Cataract helped cut the backlog which was blamed on the Legionnaires' disease outbreak in Cumbria.