by The list of services available ranges from the wonderful to the painful, the eye-opening to the strange.
There are organ replacement procedures to bariatric surgery, brazilian lifts to hair transplants and full body MOTs. This is not the body modification menu of a sci-fi novel, but packages on sale at the Health Tourism Expo – a two-day sales conference for surgical changes held in London last month.
The event was overflowing with doctors and hospital representatives manning promotional stands, many from Turkey where clinics attract thousands of British tourists looking for lower-priced surgical changes, flights and accommodation in.
Exhibitors at the QEII Center – a conference center located west of Parliament Square, where tourists pour in and out of Westminster Abbey – included the Association of Turkish Travel Agencies – and many of the agencies it represents offering to coordinate flights and hotels for those in operations. . There were also commercial associations from other cities and towns, proudly advertising the number of hospitals and clinics in their area.
The gathering of travel agents and clinics for the expo is a symbol of the boom in surgical tourism in the UK. According to data from the Office for National Statistics, the number of British residents who left the country for medical treatment increased from 234,000 in 2021 to 348,000 in 2022.
There is no suggestion that any of the clinics on display at the expo in London were involved in malpractice, but while the business of surgical tourism appears to be booming, one aspect of the industry appears to be in completely lacking: to regulate promotional events like this. any.
The Guardian has learned that the event, which featured 74 exhibitors marketing directly to the public, was not subject to any scrutiny by UK health, advertising or business regulators, which experts believe urgently needs to be addressed to protect patients defend.
British consumers may find complex and expensive treatments available at cut prices and without waiting times to be overwhelming, but experts have warned that the number of people needing medical care has increased to address botched surgeries under the apparent lack of oversight. this relatively new market.
According to Foreign Office data, six Britons died in Turkey in 2023 after medical procedures, while data from the British Association of Aesthetic and Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS) showed the number of people who needed hospital treatment in the UK after surgery get cosmetics abroad. a 94% increase in three years, with 324 patients requiring surgery after returning home in the four years to 2022.
The BAAPS report, released in November last year, added that procedures carried out in Turkey accounted for more than three-quarters of such cases in the previous six months, costing around £15,000 per person. the cost to the NHS – although he noted. there was considerable variation depending on the treatment each person needed.
Related: Brits seeking medical treatments abroad should ‘be wary of low prices’
Marc Pacifico, president of BAAPS, said the lack of oversight of events such as the Health Tourism Expo is a matter of concern. “I think it’s really remarkable that an exhibition like this seems to fall between the cracks of all the regulatory bodies in the UK that are responsible for healthcare and patient safety,” he said. “I would think it would be common sense to have some sort of oversight.”
Bodies including the General Medical Council, the Care and Quality Commission, the Department for Business and Trade, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) and the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency all told the Guardian that the Health Tourism Expo under its umbrella. .
A spokesman for the Department of Health and Social Care said that doctors must make it clear to potential patients whether they were licensed to provide medical advice in the UK, noting that it was a criminal offense in the UK for a doctor to misunderstand falsely state that they had or did not have registration. license. But, they said: “These are marketing events and therefore not within the remit of health regulators.”
The ASA said it regulated the content and targeting or placement of ads for surgical tourism. An investigation at the start of the year led to the banning of 13 UK-targeted ads from overseas-based cosmetic surgery clinics after they were found to have broken rules, including failing to clarify potential risks , which made the decision to undergo surgery trivial. , and make misleading claims about the safety and credentials of doctors.
However, the ASA said it could not control events such as the Health Tourism Exhibition. “We do not cover promotional material on the stands within the exhibition,” he said.
The Guardian understands that providers marketing their services to UK-based patients, including at trade shows, must ensure their marketing complies with UK consumer law, even if treatment is carried out overseas.
It means that surgical tourist customers – some of whom have been left with life-changing injuries as a result of shoddy work – are protected by the same law that protects consumers if they buy faulty kitchen appliances. Experts have said that is not enough.
“If something goes wrong with your body, your local electrical retailer can’t fix it,” said Omar Ahmed, consultant plastic surgeon and spokesman for the British Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons. “You have one shot at it, and if it goes wrong, you’ve got nothing, you’ve got no satisfaction, so to speak.”
Mark Soldin, a consultant plastic and reconstructive surgeon based in London, said St George’s hospital in the capital saw around one patient a week with complications from medical tourism-related procedures. Soldin said he was concerned that aggressive marketing could have a negative impact on patient preferences, and said events like the Health Tourism Expo should be regulated.
“The government must lead it with stricter regulations and laws that prevent money-oriented health companies from negatively affecting patients,” he said.
ALZ Grup, the organizer of the Health Tourism Expo, has been contacted for comment.
