A woman has been forced to pawn her pension to pay more than £13,000 for two vital hip operations, because she could not bear to wait in pain for 18 months on the NHS.

Without the surgery, Elizabeth Gardiner, 54, would have been forced to give up her job.

And according to new figures, North-East patients have been turning in droves to the private sector instead of taking their place on lengthening NHS waiting lists.

Mrs Gardiner, of Washington, Wearside, was diagnosed with osteoarthritis in January.

She said: "I resent having to pay for something which should have been free, but I don't regret a penny.

"It has been a struggle and I have been forced to use some of my pension, but the care I received was second to none and I feel like a new person.

"I just couldn't bear the thought of becoming immobile. The pain was unbearable.

"Instead, my work helped me to draw some of my pension."

The number of people who have been turning to the region's private hospitals for non-urgent treatment has soared by almost 40 per cent during the past 12 months.

By the end of September, the Newcastle Nuffield Hospital and the BUPA hospital in Washington, had operated on about 2,000 "self-paying" patients.

Newcastle's three hospitals, which are regional centres for many operations in the North- East, reveal the number of people waiting over 12 months for an operation has more than doubled since March to 329.

The number of people waiting over 13 weeks for their first hospital consultation has risen from 3,150 to 5,000 in a year.