Health Story

03 December 2008 02:08 BST

Health tourism under fire

Doctors and medical professionals have questioned proposals to allow UK residents to be treated abroad and have the cost refunded.

Proposals from the European Commission, due to be released today but delayed to a later date, would allow cross-border healthcare with patients travelling from the UK for treatment being refunded the equivalent NHS cost.

The plans were triggered in part by the case of Yvonne Watts, who travelled from the UK to France for a hip operation.

The European Court of Justice said if there was an undue delay a person has the right to travel to another member state to receive treatment and be reimbursed.

Nigel Edwards, policy director of the NHS Confederation, said there are a number of issues with the so-called 'health tourism', particularly with ensuring "an equitable system" of healthcare.

"The principle that if you need surgery you should be able to get it somewhere safe that can do it at a cost the NHS can afford is right," he told the Today programme.

"The thing that would worry people slightly is that in areas where there is a shortage of expertise and waiting times are a bit longer or [primary care trusts] are trying to balance their resources, there could be an effect here where people who are able to travel and pay up front are able to push to the front of the queue."

Dr Richard Vautrey, deputy chair of the BMA's GPs committee, also raised concerns with health tourism, arguing that there could be "a whole host of bureaucratic hurdles" for people who wish to use the facility.

"[Patients referred for operations] tend to be more dependent on relatives, they want relatives to visit them if they're in hospital," he said on the same programme.

"So it's not just a case of having the procedure abroad, also the support networks need to be in place as well.

"And then there's also the follow-ups after procedures have been done, which can be very important, and it would clearly be a lot more difficult if an operation has been done abroad to ensure that the right follow-up is put in place when a patient returns home."

But John Bowis MEP, Conservative health spokesman in the European parliament, welcomed the proposals, saying: "People have been travelling abroad for various treatments for years and the procedure needs to be formalised rather than leaving decisions to the interpretation of the courts.

"As long as no toes are trodden on in the subsidiarity of healthcare systems in individual member states, this is a positive step."