English patients undergo surgery

NHS patients at the La Louviere hospital in Lille, France

Doctors in France have started operating on British patients sent to them for treatment to reduce NHS waiting times.

Surgery began on some of the four men and five women on Saturday morning, at the private La Louviere hospital in Lille.

Operations on some of the patients have already finished, and they are now recovering.

The group arrived on Friday on Eurostar from Ashford in Kent and spent the night in private rooms.

Four of the patients are having cataract operations and are expected to be home within days.

Cost of operations

Cataract:
NHS £880
Private £2,000
France £1,000

Hip:
NHS £3,900
Private £7,600
France £4,000

Knee:
NHS £4,400
Private £8,500
France £3,000

But the other five patients who are having knee and hip surgery will be kept in for up to three weeks for intensive physiotherapy, to prevent follow-up work by the NHS.

Project spokesman John Underwood said on Saturday morning: "My understanding is that all nine of the patients are either now being prepared for their operations or having their operations and one or two of them have had their operations.

"They are all now in the operating and post operative recovery area.

Managers in the south-east of England plan to send 200 patients abroad at the taxpayers' expense by the end of March.

They refused to say how much the operations are costing, but the bill will be paid by the NHS.

Target areas

This is a quick fix, short-term solution to reduce the number of patients waiting more than a year for routine operations as set out in the NHS plan.

The decision to use foreign hospitals to tackle waiting times was made by Health Secretary Alan Milburn last October, under pressure from a European court judgement three months earlier.

Judges said patients had the right to be referred elsewhere in the EU if they could not get treatment without "undue delay" in their home country.

This initiative will add to the options available and will reduce waiting times for everyone

Peter Huntley, Channel Primary Care Group

The three test-bed areas for treatment overseas are in Kent, West Sussex and Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight.

Mr Milburn said the vast majority of patients would continue to be treated by the NHS.

However, health authorities and primary care trusts would be able to commission services from other European countries as part of their wider efforts to reduce waiting times for NHS treatment.

Chief executive of the Channel primary care group in Kent, Peter Huntley, said: "The important thing is this initiative will add to the options available and will reduce waiting times for everyone."

Complaints procedure

The test-bed areas have been chosen because they all have waiting time pressures and are close to key, rapid transport links to mainland Europe.

But there is concern about the ethics of going down this route and whether it is designed to divert attention from the issue of the need to improve the NHS.

Shadow Health Secretary Dr Liam Fox said sending patients abroad was a "national humiliation".

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Liberal Democrat health spokesman Dr Evan Harris said: "The worry is they haven't worked out who will be blamed if things go wrong."

Bob Abberley from the health union Unison, said: "What we would be against is if this was seen as an alternative to making sure we have got enough beds and enough operating theatres and enough staff."

But the Department of Health spokeswoman insisted: "As far as we are concerned the government is investing heavily in capacity in the UK, but while that's happening we believe it is appropriate to use surplus capacity elsewhere in the EU."

If anything went wrong, patients would have the same rights as if they were having treatment in this country, she said.

The worry is they haven't worked out who will be blamed if things go wrong

Dr Evan Harris, Liberal Democrat health spokesman

A total of 23 patients from the target areas were assessed by French doctors at the William Harvey hospital, Ashford, earlier this week to confirm they were fit to travel.

A second group will follow the first nine patients before the end of the month and there will be regular pilots until the end of March.

Health reforms

The hospital is looking at different hospitals beyond Lille and the pilots may move beyond France.

All patients' costs will be covered by the health trust, but any accompanying relatives will have to pay their own expenses.

The government's aim is to reform the health service to ensure NHS patients wait an average of just seven weeks for an operation in English hospitals by 2005.