A pensioner is selling his home to pay for a private hip operation for his wife.

Bill Prince says he cannot stand seeing wife Pat suffer on an NHS waiting list.

Mr Prince, 73, and Pat, 72, say they are heartbroken to be leaving what they describe as their perfect home.

When they bought the £135,000 bungalow in Perry Hill, Saltdean, seven years ago they thought they would spend the rest of their days there.

But in the summer Pat, who used to sell flowers in London Road, Brighton, developed pain in her hip and went for an X-ray.

Eventually the doctor told Pat her hip bone was crumbling.

He said she urgently needed a hip replacement but would probably have to wait about 18 months just to get a date for the operation.

When she broke the news to Bill, he said he would rather sell their home and pay for a private operation than watch Pat suffer.

Bill said: "I couldn't wait that long, watching her pain get worse every day. I could see she needed to have it done straight away."

The couple, who have been married for 53 years, contacted the Nuffield Hospital in Hove and were told the operation would cost about £10,000.

The couple are now considering contacting a surgeon in France who could do the operation almost straight away for about £3,400.

Bill said: "It is still a lot of money to us. We've got a little bit saved up but not enough. We could take out a loan and stay here but the repayments would eat up our pensions."

"The only thing we've got is the house so we're going to sell up and get somewhere cheaper - then she won't have to put up with this pain."

Mr Prince, who has had prostate cancer and heart problems, said: "The hospitals are marvellous most of the time but so many people need these kind of operations they're jammed solid.

"But it does make me cross because we've been paying into the health service for all these years and I feel we're entitled to something."

Pat said: "I like it here. I don't really want to move but it looks like we'll have to go.

"I'm not happy about leaving but if I don't have the operation soon I won't be able to walk and I'll be housebound."

Statistics published at the end of May by East Sussex, Brighton and Hove Health Authority revealed there were 18,848 people waiting for NHS operations in East Sussex.

Des Turner, Labour MP for Brighton Kemp Town, said the length of the waiting list for orthopaedic surgery in the Brighton area was unacceptable.

He said: "It's very sad that people find themselves forced into these situations and end up considering selling their homes.

"This is not the first time I have come across it. Waiting lists for orthopaedics at Brighton are very bad, and Brighton and Hove Primary Care Group should do more to get patients treated.

"I'm fairly sure things will improve but at the moment the waiting lists are terrible, especially when patients have to wait to see a consultant before their name even goes on the list.

"Extra resources are being made available but these are taking time to filter through to where they're needed."