THE number of desperate patients forced to ditch the NHS and pay for medical treatment abroad has risen by a third since lockdown.
Leading clinics across Europe are now focusing on attracting a new wave of NHS exiles as demand rockets among British patients for hip and knee replacements, cataract surgery and cardiology treatments.
Almost 350,000 UK residents went abroad for medical treatment in 2022, compared with 248,000 in 2019 and 120,000 in 2015.
At home, the number waiting more than a year for elective — non-urgent — surgery has risen from 1,000 in 2019 to 400,000 in 2022.
A further 1.5million people were waiting for diagnostic tests.
Keith Pollard, editor of the International Medical Travel Journal, said clinics in Lithuania, Poland, Croatia and France were seeing a huge upturn in Britons seeking elective surgery.
He said: “Three or four years ago very few Brits would go abroad for elective or NHS-type surgery. But what we are seeing over the past 12 to 18 months is down to NHS waiting lists. People are not prepared to wait if they are in significant pain or facing mobility issues.”
Keith said 80 per cent of patients seeking treatment at one clinic in Lithuania were from Britain, while in Poland another clinic had seen a 50 per cent rise in patients flying in.
But Professor Fiona Myint, senior vice president of the UK’s Royal College of Surgeons of England, advised caution.
She said: “A lot of clinics and hospitals abroad will offer an excellent level of care. However, this is not always the case. While surgery abroad might be a cheaper option, I would urge patients to consider any cost savings against the possible risks of complications.”
The Department of Health National Travel Health Network And Centre advised patients to discuss foreign ops with their UK doctor.
It also warns they should consider the cost of follow-up treatment in the UK if there are complications, which may not be covered by the NHS.
It also advises getting comprehensive travel medical insurance and checking it covers complications and medical evacuation back to the UK.
Keith added: “The risk of complications is similar to the UK NHS or private hospitals. What they are better at in certain countries is rehabilitation, often you are kept in for two weeks. It can be up to half the price for the same procedure in a private hospital in Britain.”
Labour’s shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said: “It’s a scandal that Brits are now forced to go abroad to get the treatment they need.
"Working people pay taxes all their lives, only to find the NHS can’t be there for them when they need it. Fourteen years of Conservative neglect has left the NHS with the longest waiting lists in history.
“Only Labour has a plan to get the NHS back on its feet. We will provide an extra two million operations and appointments a year, by paying staff extra to work evenings and weekends.”
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “We have cut overall waiting lists for four months running despite disruptive strikes and record winter pressures on our NHS.
“We are committed to going further, which is why we have put record funding into improving NHS productivity.”
Here we reveal the costs of treatments in other countries compared to Britain and hear from two people why they travelled abroad for the ops they needed.
WRITER Rebecca McPhie, 52, from Needham Market, Suffolk, was fit and healthy until July last year when she was diagnosed with arthritis of the hip.
Rebecca, married to tree consultant Jason, 54, and mum to sons Hamish, 18, and 16-year-old Finn, said: “I was failed by the NHS at the time I needed it most.
“I was an active person who loved paddle-boarding but the pain came on quickly and escalated until I couldn’t walk.
“I was told it was at least a year-long wait for surgery.
“That thought was horrendous, so I looked into private treatment in the UK which was £19,000 for each hip.
“I read an article about costs being cheaper abroad and found the EuroTreatMed clinic in Katowice, Poland, was half the price.
“Within a month we were being picked up by a Mercedes at the airport in Poland and taken to the clinic.
I was failed by the NHS at the time I needed it most
Rebecca McPhie
“The surgeon spoke OK English and the nurses spoke excellent English.
“I had the op the next day, followed by physio, and within two weeks I was walking outside and going to the gym.
“I’ve just returned for the second hip operation and feel great.
“But it’s unfair and wrong that I and others have to go abroad.
“We have worked all our lives and paid tax, and this was a significant amount of money out of our pockets.”
DAD-of-two Ryan Bond, 40, from Colchester, Essex, had a £3,000 knee operation at the Nordorthopaedics Clinic in Lithuania last month.
The self-employed electrical engineer said: “I had the same op on my left knee in 2020, which cost £5,000 privately in the UK.
"I used our family savings as there was a year’s wait each time on the NHS and the pain was excruciating.
“If I don’t work I don’t get paid, and the idea of languishing on a waiting list for over a year was unthinkable.
"In Lithuania I had an MRI scan on the knee, followed by surgery the next day and an overnight stay in hospital.
“I was sent home with blood thinners, medications, top-quality knee braces and crutches and a dedicated rehab plan.”
I used our family savings as there was a year’s wait each time on the NHS and the pain was excruciating
Ryan Bond
Ryan’s wife Lauren, 39, a lawyer, joined him on the trip.
She added: “We were shocked how much the Lithuanian clinic surpassed hospitals in Britain.
“When we were there, there were dozens of other Britons having surgery.”
Poland
HIP OPERATIONS
Cost in UK: £19,000 per hip
Cost in Poland: £7,500 per hip
MAJA SWINDER, international patient co-ordinator at private health agency EuroTreatMed, in the city of Katowice, said: “The trend began after the Covid lockdowns. Orthopaedic patient numbers have grown by around 30 per cent since 2019 and 60 per cent are for hip ops.
“Many feel disappointed with long UK waiting times which are leading to worsening conditions, limited mobility and increasing pain.”
The Royal College of Surgeons of England says patients needing a hip replacement can be forced to wait for more than a year.
But Maja said she had spoken to Brits who had been waiting for up to four years for treatment in the UK.
France
ANGIOPLASTY
Cost in UK: £10,000
Cost in France: £7,700
FRANCE Surgery, which arranges medical travel, said it had seen a big rise in British patients looking for cardiology ops including angioplasty, which clears narrowed or blocked blood vessels near the heart. It has also dealt with a large number of knee and hip replacements due to arthritis.
Iulia Apostu, of France Surgery, said: “Lately we’ve been getting two or three inquiries a day from English people and almost all transformed into bookings. A few years ago we got one every couple of days.”
Last month the British Heart Foundation warned those waiting more than a year for critical heart tests and treatment numbered more than 10,000.
Lithuania
KNEE REPLACEMENTS
Cost in UK: £11,200
Cost in Lithuania: £3,300
NORDCLINIC, in the city of Kaunas, has seen a dramatic rise in Brits having surgery. It even quotes prices in Pounds.
Surgeon Sarunas Tarasevicius told us: “We have double the patients now from the UK compared to 2019. Most are around 65 and blame waiting lists in the UK. We have people who have been unable to work or walk for two years and have borrowed money for operations here.
“They have been through so much.”
Data from 2023 found that 60,000 UK patients had been waiting for orthopaedic surgery – treatment for muscles and bones such as knees, backs and shoulders – for more than a year.
Croatia
CATARACT OPERATION
Cost in UK: £2,000
Cost in Croatia: £1,005
CROATIA is now so popular it held a healthcare tourism festival last year promoting its range of services to the UK.
Ivan Rendulic, founder of agency ZagrebMed, said: “At least 130 Brits a month travel to Zagreb for procedures. That has at least doubled since before Covid. The main reason is there are no waiting lists and all services are done in the best private hospitals.”
Croatia health expert Paul Bradbury said: “Internationally, Croatia is regarded as a high-quality medical tourism destination.”
In 2021 the longest UK wait time for cataract surgery was at London’s King’s College Hospital, at 21 months. The shortest was ten weeks at Luton & Dunstable University Hospital.
