Tracing patients given this type of joint will be easy - the manufacturer is recorded in patient records, and patients should wait to be contacted rather than ring in to hospitals themselves, the MDA said.

BBC: Concern over faulty hip joints

In its defence review in 2010, the coalition announced that it was cancelling the previous Labour government's decision to purchase jump-jet version of the Joint Strike Fighter (the F35-B) and opt instead for the catapult and trap (F35-C) type, which required a different set-up on deck.

BBC: Joint Strike Fighter planes (file pic)