A grandmother and osteoarthritis suffer who had an NHS-funded operation in Germany has received a �6,000 bill for her treatment.

Jackie Whatley from Mere, near Salisbury in Wiltshire, travelled to Rodalben for a replacement knee operation in October 2001.

She opted to go abroad because of the waiting lists at Salisbury District Hospital.

But the health trust where she lived failed to pay the bill, and Mrs Whatley was billed by the German authorities.

Four months after the operation, my husband had a call from the hospital in Germany to pay the bill

Jackie Whatley

Grandmother, Mrs Whatley said: "I have received a bill in German for payment from the hospital. "I think it is so disgusting what has happened. The German hospital rang me and asked for the money because the NHS had not paid the bill."

In May this year, the NHS agreed to fund the operation to treat her other knee.

Mrs Whatley said: "Before we went for the second operation I was told by the South Wiltshire NHS Primary Health Care Trust it would pay for this operation as well.

"Then four months after the operation my husband had a phone call from the hospital in Germany to pay the bill as it had not been paid by the NHS."

Health inquiry

She said she thought the operation cost about �6,000.

A spokesman for the trust said: "Under no circumstances will Mr Whatley have to pay this bill.

"We have written to him reassuring him of this. We also undertook to let him know that further inquires are being made by the Department of Health who are pursuing this."

The government announced in August 2001, that NHS trusts would be allowed to commission services from other European countries to ease problems in the UK.