Thousands of scheduled knee and hip operations in Britain have been cancelled because of a shortage of bone cement.
The cement is used to lock replacement joints in place.
It is used in most of the 250,000 operations carried out each year.
It’s thought the UK has just one week’s supply in store.
Medical production company Heraeus – one of the world’s major suppliers of the cement – has stopped production at its main plant in Germany.
The company said it had suffered “a critical machine failure”.
It said it was trying to “upgrade” its system.
The Telegraph reports the NHS is telling hospitals to prioritise its cases and cancel appointments.
Bone cement is used in 82 per cent of knee replacements and almost 60 per cent of hip replacements.
More than 15,000 operations are carried out each month.
