A NEWPORT mum paying thousands of pounds for a weight-loss operation so she can have hip replacement surgery is devastated after it was put back two months.

Penny Ofsteng, 43, is desperate to lose seven stones so she can be put on a waiting-list for a hip replacement operation to relieve crippling arthritis pains.

The mother of four, from Robert Place, Pill, endured an agonising four-year wait for treatment for her osteo-arthritis, only to be told at 18 stone she was too heavy to be operated on.

In desperation she is borrowing £10,000 from her husband Einar's parents to finance a private gastric bypass operation.

The operation was due to take place at Morriston Hospital, Swansea, on March 25, but this week Mrs Ofsteng was told all private operations at the hospital are cancelled until after April.

Mrs Ofsteng said she now fears she may not lose enough weight in time for her appointment with a specialist in September, where she could be put on a list for the hip replacement she needs.

Mrs Ofsteng said: "I'm living in absolute agony. This was my last resort to get the weight off and now I might not get it off in time.

"This means I will be a few months behind losing weight for the appointment.

"Four months won't make me lose the seven stone I need to be put on the waiting-list.

"Six months might, but four months won't.

"I've got to get my body mass index down to 35 and I don't know how I can do that in that time.

"It's very upsetting but there's absolutely nothing I can do about it. A spokeswoman for the Swansea NHS Trust confirmed that private operations are being put back as NHS patients are being made the priority. The spokeswoman said: "In order to prevent favour to fee-paying patients ahead of National Health patients, it was agreed that urgent and patients requiring treatment within nationally agreed timescales should be priorities before the end of March."