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Department of Health policy statement: Where are NHS patients treated.
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Last modified date:7 March 2007
The Department of Health policy is to advise the NHS in England to purchase spare capacity only within the European Economic Area.
Prior to contracting with any hospital, regardless of its location, we need to determine whether a set of prescribed criteria is met. These include the quality of the care and follow-up care on offer, available accommodation, time, ease and effect of the modes of travel required from the local UK base and cost. As a general rule (based on clinical advice) we would regard three hours air travel as being the absolute maximum.
The patients' diagnoses and medical conditions, fitness and willingness to travel and be treated overseas must also be taken into account in determining who might benefit from this type of treatment.
There is high quality, cost effective, spare capacity readily available in northern Europe for the NHS to purchase within the specified air travel time. Therefore regrettably, the NHS is not looking to contract for hospital treatment for NHS patients outside the maximum air travel time limit.
Department of Health policy statement: Reimbursement for treatment abroad
The NHS does not operate a reimbursement system. Patients wishing to receive treatment abroad at the expense of the NHS will either need to be referred abroad by their NHS Trust, or need to receive prior authorisation to receive treatment under the E112 scheme. Patients who fund their hospital treatment privately will not be separately reimbursed.
This information is for guidance only. Please speak to your local NHS trust or the NHS overseas commissioners for detailed information about a particular scheme.
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