Should a hospital pay for a patient who seeks quicker and cheaper treatment overseas when it is not readily available on the NHS? This was the question raised by the recent case of Belshaw v Suffolk Primary Care Trust. Mrs Belshaw needed a scan on her back but was told by Suffolk Primary Care Trust that it would take a year. She therefore travelled to Germany to have the scan carried out sooner and sought to recover the costs from the Trust. After 3 years disputing the claim, the Trust finally paid up leading to a decision which could pave the way for future claims.
The decision is significant in that there is likely to be a substantial increase in 2008 in the number of patient's seeking treatment abroad. With a proposed EU directive to make it freely available to EU residents to travel for non-emergency/outpatient treatment within any one of the 27 member states. Whilst the directive is currently only in draft it highlights the growing trend for people to seek quicker treatment overseas. Up until now most cases have related to private treatment, however, this may change if the directive comes into force.
In recent years the NHS has embraced the concept of overseas treatment with the introduction of the NHS overseas commissioning scheme whereby the NHS can outsource treatment to an overseas provider. The settlement in Belshaw may indicate that the attempts by the NHS to restrict treatment to centres that they approve may be in jeopardy. However, an important issue which arises from this scenario is what happens if something goes wrong. Does the NHS bear any responsibility if they have not directly commissioned the services? The legal issues can be complex and anyone considering overseas treatment should ensure that the responsibilities for any follow-up, remedial or corrective treatment are clearly set out.
If you have any questions about overseas treatment or feel that you have been treated badly then contact our Medical Negligence team on 0114 266 6660 or email [email protected].
