The government is to hire teams of German doctors and nurses to perform "conveyor belt" operations at a fast-track surgery unit for NHS patients being set up at a military hospital in Portsmouth.
The foreign doctors will work with NHS staff to treat thousands of NHS patients who would otherwise have had to wait for months for standard operations such as hip replacements or cataract removal. Alan Milburn, the health secretary, said the project would make use of first class premises at the Royal Hospital Haslar in partnership with the Ministry of Defence. There had been fears that the hospital might be axed when the MoD pulled out in 2007.
He said: "As part of this proposal we will bring in clinical teams from elsewhere in Europe to help provide treatment for NHS patients, under contract, so helping to ease staffing problems."
The consultants and nurses are likely to be supplied by the German private health company, Germedica, which is understood to have spare capacity in its continental hospitals.
Mr Milburn announced the initiative as senior cabinet members sent voters a clear message that taxes would rise in the Budget to fund Tony Blair's vision of a world class NHS.
The prime minister hinted on Wednesday that he wanted an earmarked tax dedicated to the health service. And yesterday Gordon Brown, the chancellor, said ministers would continue to put the case made by Mr Blair for new investment to pay for NHS reforms, although he insisted any decisions would not be made until the Budget on April 17.
Mr Milburn said: "If we want sustained investment in the NHS then we will need to pay for it ... No one should pretend for a moment that this is an easy thing for a Labour government. It isn't."
Ministers were already committed to experiments in sending NHS patients abroad, using spare capacity at hospitals in France and Germany to treat people willing to travel for surgery in preference to long delays on the waiting list.
But Mr Milburn thinks it is more logical to get foreign doctors to conduct the operations nearer to patients' homes in Britain. This will be done for the first time at Haslar and, if successful, may spread to other parts of the NHS.
The Haslar unit was one of four new "diagnostic and treatment centres" (DTCs) announced yesterday. Mr Milburn said they would "separate routine surgery from the pressures of dealing with emergencies.
Tim Thomas, director of projects for Portsmouth hospitals, said an advance guard of German doctors arrived at the Haslar hospital this week to conduct pre-operation assessments of patients on the orthopaedic waiting list. Some may go abroad for treatment and others may await the arrival of German teams.
Portsmouth hospitals were designated a failing no-star NHS trust and told that they would be taken over by successful managers from elsewhere in the NHS. One of their weak spots was failure to treat patients waiting for hip and knee replacements, due to pressure of emergency cases. The other new DTC centres will be at the Royal Berkshire and Battle hospital in Reading, Basingstoke hospital in Hampshire, and Chase community hospital in Bordon, Hampshire, where patients will get rapid diagnosis without having to wait for a hospital outpatient appointment.
Last year the government announced the first four DTCs, including one run by the private healthcare company Bupa at Redwood hospital, in Surrey.
In London, work is under way to set up DTCs at University College London hospital, King's College hospital and Moorfields eye hospital.
Mr Milburn said: "The NHS is investing £15m to get this first wave of DTCs going. They will be receiving patients by the end of this year. When they are up and running they will provide an extra 20,000 treatments a year."
