§ Lord McColl of Dulwichasked Her Majesty's Government:
- (a) whether they will publish the total costs including travel and accommodation for those National Health Service patients and their relatives who have been sent to France for their operation;
- (b) how these costs compare with United Kingdom private hospital costs bearing in mind that
WA186 patients with cataracts are treated as day cases in the United Kingdom; and - (c) whether they use a best value analysis. [HL2524]
§ Lord Hunt of Kings HeathThe precise costs of the National Health Service-funded operations purchased in Lille are commercially confidential. The three pilot sites involved in the test bed exercise have a total of £1.1 million available for treatment costs. Depending on casemix this will fund 200 to 250 procedures.
Direct comparisions of the costs of overseas treatment and NHS costs are not straightforward; for example, prices agreed so far for hip and knee replacements include intensive rehabilitation which would not be included in standard NHS reference costs. In general the prices agreed so far for treatment overseas are in excess of NHS average reference costs but comparable to those in the United Kingdom private sector. However, we would expect better prices if and when we commit to larger volumes of patients travelling overseas to individual hospitals.
We will look for high standards of care and value for money in assessing future offers of overseas treatment for NHS patients.