14 September 2001
Health Secretary Alan Milburn, in an apparent policy U-turn, recently announced that health authorities could strike deals with health care providers in the EU. A number of health service organisations, including West Sussex Health Authority, have considered sending patients for treatment in hospitals in France, Germany or Belgium.
But the Department of Health has put these plans on hold while a new unit – set up in the department last week – looks at the hurdles that must be overcome.
A DoH source said a number of matters had to be 'ironed out' before health authorities could be given
the freedom to sign the contracts. 'We have no immediate plans to send patients abroad. We have to make sure that robust systems are in place, that we get value for money and that the patients are going to get good clinical treatment,' he said.
Changes to the law may be needed to bring it into line with EU legislation. 'If these are needed, we are confident they can be achieved quite simply. Ministers are not considering sending patients outside the EU.'
West Sussex Health Authority confirmed it had considered sending patients to Germany but it played down suggestions that it was on the verge of signing an agreement on hip replacements.
Candy Morris, the authority's chief executive, said: 'We will only consider transferring patients abroad if we can't treat them in this country using NHS and other available services – and we have no reason at this stage to suppose we can't.'
If patients are not to be
sent across the Channel, they may well be treated in the NHS instead by overseas doctors. The DoH told Public Finance this week that advertisements placed in overseas medical journals to recruit doctors to the NHS had been a success.
'More than 200 expressions of interest were logged in the first week, including 15 from the US, despite the high pay levels there, 33 from Denmark and 14 from Argentina,' a spokesman said.
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