UK's oldest person has hip replacement operation at 112

Britain's oldest person is believed to have set a new world record after she underwent a hip replacement operation at the age of 112.

Gladys Hooper, of Ryde on the Isle of Wight, underwent the surgery after she fell and fractured her hip.

Derek Hermiston, Mrs Hooper's son, himself 84, said the operation had gone "splendidly" and had given his mother a "new lease of life".

He said his mother was recovering well following the operation at St Mary's Hospital in Newport.

"She is standing but not walking yet, they are taking it rather carefully with her as you never know what happens at that age. She listens to music and she's chatting away," he said.

The Guinness World Records currently lists John Randall as the oldest person to have a total hip replacement.

He under went the operation at Pinderfields Hospital in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, in November 2011, but at just 102 years three months and 30 days at the time of the operation he was younger than Mrs Hooper.

Mr Millington, the consultant orthopaedic surgeon at the Isle of Wight NHS Trust who performed Mrs Hooper's hip replacement, said he understood the operation on "this amazing lady" was the "oldest documented case worldwide".

"I have had correspondence since the surgery to suggest that not only is Mrs Hooper the oldest patient in the UK to have had hip fracture surgery, but possibly the oldest documented case worldwide," he said.

"However, the point is this - nothing I or my team have done has been significantly different to what we do for any patient with this injury. The only thing that makes this interesting and unique is Mrs Hooper. I therefore feel the focus should be on this amazing lady and we should all be willing her to make a full and uneventful recovery."

A spokesman for Guinness World Records said the organisation would "welcome a record application" from a member of Mrs Hooper's family.