MEP proposes giving patients the right to seek treatment abroad without prior government approval

Patients will have the right to seek treatment abroad if they believe they are being made to wait too long in their home country, under proposals being made by John Bowis, an MEP to the European parliament, next month. Mr Bowis's proposals, written in the wake of discussions by the European Commission's group on patient mobility and health care, will give patients the right to book themselves treatment in hospitals in other member states through the NHS. Currently patients have to seek authorisation from their home government if they wish their national health service to foot the bill. Mr Bowis, a former Conservative health minister, denied that this would lead to unsustainably high levels of health tourism and insisted that the moves would act as an incentive to countries to improve their health services to retain native patients and entice those from abroad. He urged the European Union to draw up guidelines to ensure that the transfer process was fair and organised and insisted that if the politicians did not act, the European court would be in the position of developing policy as more test cases arose. His report has received widespread support from most political groups in the European parliament and will be considered for adoption next week at the plenary session of parliament in Brussels Currently, patients are able to seek private treatment overseas. In addition, some contracts exist between UK hospitals and establishments on the continent that allow the mutual referral of patients. But Mr Bowis's proposals advocate the development of a continent-wide mechanism by which patients themselves can request treatment abroad if they are dissatisfied with the service that they are receiving at home. EU legislation allows a patient to apply for planned treatment abroad under extenuating circumstances with authorisation from his or her government, but, in the UK in particular, such authorisation is rarely given. “Most people would still prefer to go locally,” said Mr Bowis. “But some people are tired of waiting and want the option to travel.” Mr Bowis envisaged that the new guidelines would allow patients to travel elsewhere if they are experiencing “undue delay.” The surrogate health service would then return the bill to the patient's homeland. No government would be asked to pay more for a resident's operation abroad than it would have cost if the operation had been carried out locally. There are concerns that the resulting system, under which patients hailing from countries where procedures are cheaper would be required to pay “top up” fees, might be regarded by the courts as a form of tacit discrimination. But Mr Bowis was adamant that the system could only operate if there was “no obligation” on native countries to pay inflated fees. “Those managing budgets cannot have a nightmare of unexpected expenditure,” he said. He added that they needed to know how they would be recompensed by people coming from abroad and how much they will have to pay if their residents go abroad. Mr Bowis hoped that the definition of terms such as “undue delay” would be laid down in a code of practice, just as NHS guidelines currently set down appropriate waiting times for individual conditions. These codes would be drawn up by the UK and other national governments in response to the anticipated EU guidelines. “A patient will want to know what their options are, what the criteria are, and who is responsible if something goes wrong,” he said. He stressed that this might mean moving towards a system of greater accountability where patients are able to check on the professional record of specialists in their homeland and overseas. “I believe that ultimately there will be more freedom of information. We need to establish a database that can tell people what treatment is available where and give them the right to ask their doctor, 'Can I be certain there's nothing against this person you're referring me to?' But it will be necessary to approach this area sensitively with professional organisations.”