My Medical Gateway Blog

A little-known NHS scheme allows UK patients facing long delays to receive treatment in EU public hospitals. While uptake is growing, strict criteria apply and patients must fund travel and accommodation. Only a small number benefit, highlighting deep NHS pressures and inequalities in access to timely medical care.

In recent years, an almost unknown NHS scheme has allowed a small but growing number of UK patients to access treatment abroad when NHS delays are deemed medically unacceptable. While headlines often focus on patients “fleeing Britain” for faster care, the reality is more complex – and more restricted – than it may seem.

Under a post-Brexit agreement with the European Union, the NHS can reimburse patients who receive treatment in an EU state healthcare system (not private clinics) if they face what’s defined as “undue delay” for equivalent treatment in the UK. This option is designed to provide relief to patients stuck on long waiting lists, particularly for procedures such as gynaecology surgery, hip replacements, cataract removal, gallbladder operations and hernia repairs.

However, the scope of this scheme is far narrower than many assume. First, the criteria are strict: patients must show that their NHS treatment has been delayed beyond medically acceptable limits. Then, the overseas care must be delivered by a public hospital in the EU. Importantly, patients are required to cover their own travel and accommodation costs – something that campaigners say introduces a socioeconomic barrier. As Dennis Reed of Silver Voices put it: “Most of us wouldn’t know about this scheme, and many could not afford the travel and hotels, so the vast majority of the population just have to put up with really long waits.”

Despite its limitations, the scheme has seen a steady rise in uptake. Between 2022 and 2025, 352 patients received overseas treatment funded by the NHS, with total spending reaching £4.32 million. The number of approved overseas procedures grew from 99 in 2022-23 to 141 in 2024-25. Poland, Germany, Italy and Belgium were the most common destinations, with Ireland accounting for the most costly cases – £3.15 million over three years.

Even so, this represents a tiny fraction of the crisis. As of April 2025, over 1.4 million people in England alone were waiting for gynaecology or orthopaedic procedures. Nearly 43,000 of them had waited more than a year post-diagnosis. The number of applications for overseas treatment is rising, but still only 37% were approved in 2024.

The current Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, has acknowledged the failures of the NHS, promising to “catapult the NHS into the 21st century” with a 10-year recovery plan. But while efforts are being made to cut backlogs – delivering 3.6 million more appointments and cutting the waiting list by nearly 250,000 – the scale of the problem is such that overseas treatment, while growing, remains a last resort for a very few.

The NHS scheme to fund overseas treatment is a vital safety valve – but not a long-term solution. Until wait times fall across the board and capacity is restored, this programme will continue to highlight a system under extreme pressure, where the ability to travel for care is too often a privilege, not a right.