Soaring numbers of Brits are heading overseas for medical treatment.
From hip replacements, knee ops, dental work and even cancer care, patients are increasingly looking to countries in Europe and further afield as NHS waiting lists hit record highs.
According to figures from the Office of National Statistics, 348,000 people from the UK travelled abroad for medical treatment in 2022. This was up 114,000 on the year before.
They include Mark Hallums, 48, from Knaphill in Surrey who underwent pioneering proton beam therapy in the Czech Republic after he was diagnosed with a rare cancer in his nose.
Now, two years later, the dad-of-three says he has no regrets about having some of his care overseas.
Mr Hallums said: “There were quite a few British people in Prague when I was there, including one guy who was just finishing up prostate cancer treatment. To be honest I’ve nothing but praise for the care I had both in Prague and at home.”
The majority of Mr Hallums’ tumour was removed by surgeons in Guildford but it was recommended he undergo radiotherapy to ensure all remaining traces of the cancer were destroyed.
Due to the delicate location of his tumour, which was just behind the bridge of the nose and at the base of the skull, the oncology team at Royal Surrey recommended the best course of action would be proton therapy – a type of radiotherapy that targets cancerous cells with pencil-point precision.
Proton therapy is available in the UK but only at centres in Manchester and London and, given Mark’s age and the non-aggressive nature of his tumour, he was not able to be seen in the preferred timeline of his oncology team.
It was then decided the best course of action would be to work with the team at the Proton Therapy Center in Prague, Czech Republic.
In October 2022 Mark travelled to the city for seven weeks of treatment at the state-of-the-art clinic.
Mr Hallums said: “My medical team in the UK asked if going to Prague was an option for me. I said it was, so their advice was that I do it, that it was the best thing for me to do. They said waiting for proton beam therapy in London would take too long. The team I had around me from the start have been and continue to be superb.
“There was a lot of curiosity when I came back from Prague from the UK team. They looked in my throat and mouth, as those areas can be significantly affected by radiotherapy to the head and neck, and said there was a surprising lack of impact to the area compared to what they would have expected.
“I remember thinking I was really fortunate to have a treatment with such low post-treatment impact compared to traditional radiotherapy.”
The NHS recommends patients do their research before heading abroad for medical treatment. They say patients should consider language barriers and how communication between medical staff abroad and in the UK will work, such as exchanging medical records.
Mr Hallums now requires yearly scans to ensure the cancer has not returned.
He said: “So far, so good. You can’t get complacent but long may it continue. I’m not in remission and technically never will be but I have been given the all clear.”
The majority of the cost of Mr Hallums’ care was funded by his insurance provider, AXA, through a scheme with his employer.
He continued: “I was very fortunate that when Covid happened my employer enabled those who were originally from different countries to work from those countries, with their families.
“Because they were UK employees the private health insurance benefit had to be extended to cover Europe. That was still in place when I put my claim in, which meant I was covered for the care in Prague. I was very lucky.”
Dr Jiri Kubes, medical director of the Proton Therapy Center in Czech Republic said: “Each year we welcome a large number of people from the UK who are unable to receive proton beam therapy in their home country but would benefit from it as part of their cancer treatment.
“Some of these treatments are funded privately and some are funded through insurance companies.
“Proton beam therapy is extremely precise and has been proven to be safe and effective for a number of cancers.”