TENS of thousands of patients who were given hip replacements are at the centre of a major health alert.

Regulators are planning to issue new advice to more than 30,000 Britons fitted with metal-on-metal devices.

In some cases, friction between the metal ball and the cup that holds it in place causes metal filings, which may find their way into the bloodstream.

In May 2011, we reported how the North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust contacted 450 patients who had the replacements asking them to make an appointment for further tests. They fitted the devices because they gave better mobility than a ball and plastic socket.

But, since they were withdrawn from the market in 2010, research has shown they have far higher failure rates than had been previously thought. This calls into question the efficacy of the testing procedures used to approve implant devices. It isn’t acceptable for problems to be discovered years later when thousands of patients are walking around with implants inside them.

Questions over testing and approval mechanisms are for another time.

What patients need now is decisive action and clear advice. Mixed messages over the breast implants scandal left many patients confused and frightened.

The same thing must not happen with metal-on-metal hip replacements.

Patients can at least be reassured that they are in good hands.

The NHS will not wash its hands of patients in the disgraceful manner of some private breast implant providers.