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From The Sunday Times

February 19, 2006

New rush to foreign hospitals

A growing number of people are travelling abroad for faster, cheaper medical treatment

By Emma Lunn

LONG waiting lists in the NHS and expensive private treatment mean that hip replacements are becoming as popular as hip resorts for Brits travelling abroad.

Norwich Union Healthcare’s health-of-the-nation index reported last week that 74% of GPs said they were seeing more of their patients travelling abroad for operations because of dissatisfaction with British waiting lists. Popular destinations include India, Costa Rica, South Africa, Germany, America and Thailand.

Cost is another big factor in people going abroad for operations, leading to a “sun and surgery” package-break industry. Companies with links to hospitals around the world arrange deals that include an operation, travel and accommodation.

Heidi Rogers, 47, and her daughter, Victoria Lamberth, 29, travelled to India with the Taj Medical Group for Rogers to have an operation on a slipped disc and Lamberth to have dental treatment.

Rogers said: “I had problems with back pain and it turned out to be a slipped disc. There was a long waiting list for treatment on the NHS and I couldn’t afford to go private on my nurse’s salary.”

She needed an MRI scan, which costs about £1,000 privately in Britain, but without a consultation, appointment or diagnosis. The same scan costs only £100 in India with consultation and diagnosis included, so she flew to Delhi last December to have it done.

Rogers returned to Britain hoping that the orthopaedic consultant at Conquest Hospital in Hastings, where she works, would be able to treat her. But all he could do was put her on a waiting list for an injection that would relieve the pain — not solve the problem.

She said: “In January I went back to Delhi with my husband and daughter. I had a new procedure in which they replaced the disc. The trip and treatment came to about £4,400.

“I’m not sure if they do disc replacement yet in Britain, but most orthopaedic operations cost about £15,000.”

At the same time her daughter had extensive dental treatment for which she was quoted £6,000 in Britain. In India she had it all done for £800.

“I’m free of pain for the first time in ages,” said Rogers, “and my daughter’s mouth now looks beautiful.”

Northampton-based People Logistics specialises in sending patients to France, where a hip replacement and two-week stay costs £6,350, half the amount it would cost privately in Britain.

“We’ve got a 100% track record,” said People Logistics director Keith Smith, “and most people are walking unaided by the time they come out of the hospital. We drive patients to France through the Channel tunnel, because it’s not a good idea to fly soon after surgery.”