Over 1000 NHS patients had treatment in European hospitals last year after opting out of waiting lists in the UK.

The Department of Health is taking legal advice on a ruling last month by the European Court of Justice which appears to give Britons the right to treatment in French and German hospitals where there is spare capacity if they face too long a wait with the NHS.

A Downing Street spokesman said yesterday that the government's priority "is to invest in the NHS in this country. If more people went abroad for treatment, this would divert the money in that direction".

Dr George Rae, a GP and senior official with the British Medical Association, said he did not object to Britons being treated abroad while the NHS was "turning itself around". However, he questioned "who has responsibility for patients if complications set in four or five weeks later?"