Brits resort to surgery abroad amid NHS crisis

80% are from the UK! Incredible. Welcome to Tory Britain. I live in Greece and need a hip replacement. I wouldn't dream of going back to UK.

This caught me unawares. That gentleman surgeon just exuded an aura of care, compassion, professionalism, and self-assurance. Much respect for this doctor.

Remember that time when we were in EU and if the queue was too long you could go anywhere in EU for free? Dark times...

I see/read news items like this and I just feel so worried for my parents. I’m a healthy 34yo but my mum and dad are in their 60s. It breaks my heart that anyone would be in this situation

It’s not just the NHS. The American healthcare system is totally broken as well.😢

The NHS has been broken for a while, Covid just exposed it and made it worse but some of us have known this from years of first hand experience and have had to turn to private options just to survive which isn’t on when we are paying for services that we can’t even access. I’m glad we have a safety net that places like the USA don’t have but we also don’t have the same freedom to escape the system when things are clearly going wrong.

Sadly the majority of people can’t afford this! So have to wait years in pain

We pay all this TAX to our government and this is how they treat us.

Of course, if like Sunak and his family, you have lots of money then you can get more or less instant access to some of the very best medical treatment in the world, here in London.

And then you finally have a consultation only to be put onto another waiting list

Holy shit. Welcome to the American healthcare experience Britain.

There's a joke. People entitled to NHS care having to go abroad. Foreigners not entitled to NHS care being handed it on a plate by the NHS.

My mom had to patronise the NES (private) for her surgeries and chemotherapy. It cost a fortune but she was treated with utmost priority.

❤ hope she's much better xx

The NHS has been sending people to Europe for surgeries for years. Unfortunately given the current political situation has stopped it

You can have as many operations outside the UK as you want. The reason there are waiting lines and high prices is because they want you "to go". Don't worry they will find a way.

I was offered a potential treatment abroad and completely blocked from obtaining it in the UK!

There's no such thing as a low maintenance patient. We have all used the NHS at some point ranging from the vaccinations you had as a child, to your childhood dental care. If you are a woman who has had children, you will have had antenatal care and the NHS cares for your baby, that will wipe out almost all of your national insurance payments over a couple of decades of working. None of those things are free. So almost everyone has had NHS care even before they reach their 5th birthday, let alone if you are older

This has being going on for decades. I know of elderly who have always had to pay privately or else wait for the surgery that never comes on the NHS! Even though facing immobility they never got any help. I was lucky to have family pay for my surgery in a very busy private hospital funnily enough or tragically the surgeon was working also in the local NHS! What is going on??

This is scary I’m waiting for a kidney stone operation I’ve been waiting 4 years