Myra Attias, 80, was fed up with NHS waiting lists

A grandmother from Cambridgeshire says she has been forced to go abroad for a hip replacement operation.

Myra Attias, 80, was fed up with NHS waiting lists - so her daughter Annette Baldwin paid �8,000 for her to have the operation done privately.

She travelled to a clinic in Germany where the operation was a complete success.

Ms Attias, from Dogsthorpe, Peterborough, said she could not bear the pain any longer so her daughter found the money needed to fund the trip.

Ms Attias said she had been let down by the NHS.

"They can't be there for you went you want them.

Yvonne Watts took her case to the High Court

"I love my country, but my country does not love me."

A spokesman for the North and South Peterborough Health Trust said no outpatient should have to wait more than 12 months for an operation and most were seen well before that.

The spokesman said many initiatives were under way to bring down the waiting lists.

In April grandmother Yvonne Watts took a case to the High Court claiming the NHS must pay for a hip operation she had in a French hospital because of "undue delay" caused by waiting lists in the UK.

Mrs Watts, 72, from Bedford, said she was entitled under European Union regulations to be compensated for the �3,800 she spent on having a right hip replacement.

But lawyers for Bedford Primary Care Trust and Health Secretary Alan Milburn said Mrs Watts had no need to go abroad.

They argued that she had been given an early date for an operation at her local hospital.

High Court judge Mr Justice Munby said he would not give judgment until after Easter.