§ Lord Chadlingtonasked Her Majesty's Government:
How many people have received medical treatment abroad following a referral from their local primary care trust. [HL3778]
§ Lord WarnerPatients are referred for overseas treatment by their acute trust with the agreement of the commissioning primary care trust or directly by their primary care trust. Acute trusts and primary care trusts use the services of the National Health Service overseas commissioning team at Guys and St Thomas' NHS Trust which sources suitable overseas providers, and procures treatment in Europe for the NHS. The overseas commissioning team also holds the contracts for treatment overseas on behalf of the NHS. The number of patients referred overseas directly by their primary care trusts has not been recorded by central monitoring. In total, however, 879 patients have been referred overseas for treatment since January 2002.