Daily Debate: EU healthcare

Published: Wednesday, 19 December 2007, 8:55AM

New proposals for patients to choose healthcare in any EU member state if they wish are set to be unveiled.

The idea of a "single market" in medical treatment is partly a response to a European legal ruling last year which supported the case of 75-year old Briton Yvonne Watts, who paid £3,900 for a hip replacement in France because she did not want to wait a year for an operation in the UK.

The NHS refused to reimburse her but the EU judges said she was entitled to shop around in the EU because of the "undue delay" in her treatment in Britain.

If approved by EU ministers, the European Commission plan would oblige national health systems in the 27 EU countries to provide patients with equivalent hospital facilities as would be offered in their own countries.

Some Labour MPs claim so-called EU "health tourism" could undermine the NHS, but Tories welcomed the move as freedom for NHS patients to express their views about the service.

John Bowis, Conservative health spokesman in the European Parliament and former UK health minister, said: "With ever-growing concerns over the spread of hospital infections like C.difficile and MRSA, we will doubtless see people voting with their feet on the Government's handling of the NHS."

ITV News wants to know –

Would such 'health tourism' undermine the NHS?

Or would it be an opportunity for patients to receive better care overseas?

Could this be the solution to patient waiting lists?

Do you think our hospitals would be overrun by patients from abroad?

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