Complications and costs to the UK National Health Service due to outward medical tourism for elective surgery: a rapid review
Abstract
Objectives: Outward medical tourism is when people seek medical treatment in a different country to the one they live in. We aimed to identify all studies that describe the impact on the UK National Health Service (NHS) of patients who require treatment due to outward medical tourism for elective surgery and report on complications, costs and benefits.
Design: A rapid literature review. Medical and grey literature databases were searched, limited to literature published between 2012 and 2024.
Selection criteria: Studies published in the English language, conducted in any NHS setting, describing complications, costs or benefits due to outward medical tourism for elective surgery were included. We excluded emergency and semi-urgent surgery, dental and transplant surgery, cancer treatment and fertility treatment.
Outcome measures: Primary outcomes were costs and savings to the NHS. Secondary outcomes were type and frequency, demographics, procedures, complications, treatment, follow-up care and use of NHS resources. Results were summarised narratively. Study quality was assessed using JBI critical appraisal tools and the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) approach was used for certainty of evidence for costs.
Results: Some 35 case series and case reports and two surveys of NHS plastic surgeons were identified. Case studies described 655 patients treated in specific NHS hospitals between 2006 and 2024 for postoperative complications due to…
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