EU chief to help cut barriers to patients crossing borders
Europe's public healthcare systems must brace for radical change as barriers to patients crossing borders to seek treatment drop, the European Union's top health official said yesterday. Markos Kyprianou, EU health commissioner, told the Financial Times that he would act to implement the right of patients to travel for treatment across the 25-member bloc in the wake of recent court judgments.
While so-called health tourism is on the rise, many EU members have argued that medical services fall outside the scope of the single market.
But the European Court of Justice has found that they do not. In a ruling in May on the case of British woman Yvonne Watts, who went to France to avoid a year-long wait for a hip operation, the court said patients facing "undue delay" should be entitled to be treated in other countries and paid for by their national health systems.
Mr Kyprianou said: "The internal market applies to health services. People can shop around."
Opening the market could provide lucrative opportunities for private providers to lure clients from across Europe.
The move would have big budget implications for countries such as the UK, which effectively rations healthcare by limiting capacity and having long waiting lists. EU health spending rose from an average 7 per cent of gross domestic product to 7.7 per cent between 2000 and 2003.
Today, Mr Kyprianou will launch a debate, requested by member states, in the European Commission that will lead to proposals within months for how the market should function.
"We need to give people information. For example, if you want a hip replacement, where do you go, which country? There must be a better way to help the citizen make a choice," he said. "On the other hand, can a receiving country turn down a patient?"
About 1 per cent of operations across the EU involve people from other countries. Defining "undue delay" will be one thorny issue. "I am not going to produce a list of time limits," Mr Kyprianou said. There is also the question of liability if an operation goes wrong and who should pay for follow-up treatment when the patient returns home.
Patients could only travel for treatment that would be available in their own country and at the same price. They would have to meet extra costs themselves.
Jim Murray, director of BEUC, a European consumer lobby group, welcomed the debate. "Patients need much more clarification of their rights," he said.
Although José Manuel Barroso, the liberal president of the European Commission, wants to go further, many members insisted on health being excluded from a recentl EU directive to liberalise trade in services.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2d44219c-3c7b-11db-9c97-0000779e2340.html
Health Direct warned back on May 16, 2006 NHS told to fund treatment abroad in landmark court ruling that the case of Yvonne Watts, 75, of Bedford, who paid £3,900 for a hip operation in France when the European Court of Justice ruled that the case, which centres on the definition of "undue delay", could have a significant impact on the NHS. It will allow any patient facing an unacceptable delay who has the funds to pay for an operation upfront to seek treatment abroad and recoup the costs from the NHS.
UK patients who are forced to wait longer than they should for NHS treatment are entitled to reclaim the cost of being treated in Europe, a court has ruled. The European Court of Justice said the NHS must refund costs if patients waited longer than clinicians advised, even if waiting time targets were met. The case, which centres on the definition of "undue delay", could have a significant impact on the whole NHS.
The court ruling also meant that Labour's much vaunted promise of a maximium 18 week delay to NHS treatment is a valuable as Neville Chamberlain's paper.
While so-called health tourism is on the rise, many EU members have argued that medical services fall outside the scope of the single market.
But the European Court of Justice has found that they do not. In a ruling in May on the case of British woman Yvonne Watts, who went to France to avoid a year-long wait for a hip operation, the court said patients facing "undue delay" should be entitled to be treated in other countries and paid for by their national health systems.
Mr Kyprianou said: "The internal market applies to health services. People can shop around."
Opening the market could provide lucrative opportunities for private providers to lure clients from across Europe.
The move would have big budget implications for countries such as the UK, which effectively rations healthcare by limiting capacity and having long waiting lists. EU health spending rose from an average 7 per cent of gross domestic product to 7.7 per cent between 2000 and 2003.
Today, Mr Kyprianou will launch a debate, requested by member states, in the European Commission that will lead to proposals within months for how the market should function.
"We need to give people information. For example, if you want a hip replacement, where do you go, which country? There must be a better way to help the citizen make a choice," he said. "On the other hand, can a receiving country turn down a patient?"
About 1 per cent of operations across the EU involve people from other countries. Defining "undue delay" will be one thorny issue. "I am not going to produce a list of time limits," Mr Kyprianou said. There is also the question of liability if an operation goes wrong and who should pay for follow-up treatment when the patient returns home.
Patients could only travel for treatment that would be available in their own country and at the same price. They would have to meet extra costs themselves.
Jim Murray, director of BEUC, a European consumer lobby group, welcomed the debate. "Patients need much more clarification of their rights," he said.
Although José Manuel Barroso, the liberal president of the European Commission, wants to go further, many members insisted on health being excluded from a recentl EU directive to liberalise trade in services.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2d44219c-3c7b-11db-9c97-0000779e2340.html
Health Direct warned back on May 16, 2006 NHS told to fund treatment abroad in landmark court ruling that the case of Yvonne Watts, 75, of Bedford, who paid £3,900 for a hip operation in France when the European Court of Justice ruled that the case, which centres on the definition of "undue delay", could have a significant impact on the NHS. It will allow any patient facing an unacceptable delay who has the funds to pay for an operation upfront to seek treatment abroad and recoup the costs from the NHS.
UK patients who are forced to wait longer than they should for NHS treatment are entitled to reclaim the cost of being treated in Europe, a court has ruled. The European Court of Justice said the NHS must refund costs if patients waited longer than clinicians advised, even if waiting time targets were met. The case, which centres on the definition of "undue delay", could have a significant impact on the whole NHS.
The court ruling also meant that Labour's much vaunted promise of a maximium 18 week delay to NHS treatment is a valuable as Neville Chamberlain's paper.
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