According to a recent investigation by the BBC and British Medical Journal, thousands of people may have been fitted with faulty hip replacements.

The flawed design may expose patients to metal toxicity as the metal on metal joints grate against one another potentially causing a leakage of cobalt and chromium into the blood stream.

Despite the risk of cobalt-chrome leakage, a known risk since 1975, the US company DePuy Orthopaedics has continued to market these implants.

British researchers have raised concerns over the failures of these implants however US and European health regulators have failed to respond to such concerns or to monitor patients who have received hips capable of producing such toxic debris.

DePuy are yet to respond.