Planning Your Medical Treatment Abroad

If you have decided to have your medical treatment abroad then you should have a plan of action that you can follow to make sure that everything runs as smoothly as possible. This does need to be a lot of work but should make the whole process of having some form of medical treatment abroad a less stressful procedure.

Reasons for Treatment Abroad

You will no doubt already be sure of the surgery you are intending and there may be many reasons why you have decided to have your surgery abroad rather than in the UK. It could be simply the financial aspects of having surgery at a much lower cost than in the UK, or it could be that you are unhappy with the long waiting lists for surgery on the NHS.

Like thousands of people in Britain you may be unable to find a dentist who you can register with as an NHS patient, and you may want to have quick, high quality dental treatment at a lower cost than you would pay in the UK. Many of these reasons are why thousands of people from the UK are now travelling abroad each year for medical treatment.

Notifying your Doctor

Before any type of surgery whether it is cosmetic, dental or major surgery you should notify your doctor or dentist. Your doctor or dentist should have some information on medical treatments abroad, and he or she will want to be notified of the outcome of the surgery.

For certain types of surgery you may also need to have a copy of your medical records sent to the clinic or hospital abroad that you are using. There may also be some pre-surgery tests that can be completed by your own doctor and then sent to the hospital abroad. This will speed up the whole surgical process and may also save on the costs within the surgical process.

Deciding on your Surgical Route

Once you have decided on your desired treatment it is now up to you whether you want to arrange the package by yourself or have a medical service provider arrange your surgical process for you. It is entirely up to the individual; a medical service provider will be able to arrange the entire package from countries that specialise in your particular treatment, flights, accommodation, and meetings or consultations with surgeons. Medical providers will have pre checked qualifications and credentials of the surgeons to be used and the clinics and hospitals that the surgery will be performed in.

Reputable medical service providers should also have guarantees set in place should post surgery complications arise. These guarantees should include return flights, accommodation, and surgery costs; the guarantee should be valid for a specified amount of time after the surgery.

Arranging Treatment Yourself

If you decide to arrange the treatment by yourself then you should plan to do some pre surgery research. For some procedures this may be quite easy. If you know of someone who has been abroad and had successful dental work or cosmetic surgery then they will be your best reference. However, for some forms of major surgery you will need to research the country you are planning to go to, the surgeon’s credentials and qualifications, surgery costs, flights abroad and accommodation arrangements. These are the five major research points when planning your treatment abroad.

Medical Holidays Abroad

If you are intending to have some surgery as part of a holiday then you will want the surgery to only take up a small portion of your holiday time. Treatments such as dentistry, laser eye operations and some cosmetic surgery should only take a few hours to an overnight stay in a hospital or clinic. It is beneficial to stay in the area where you have had your surgery in case of any post surgery complications or a return visit for aftercare.

When planning your treatment as part of a holiday you may be able to find special discounts on holiday accommodation that is recommended by the hospital or clinic. If you research the Internet you can find these discounts available and because of the low accommodation prices you may find that you can extend your holiday.

Deciding on Your Country

Costs of operations vary from country to country as do the medical fields that some countries specialise in. For example Eastern European countries such as Croatia, Hungary and Poland are very popular for low price dental treatments, while France is very advanced in obesity surgery. Remember that flights to countries in Europe will be lower in cost and flight times, and this may be beneficial if any return visits are needed.

Planning your treatment abroad need not be a major task but it will lead to peace of mind if all your research has been thoroughly undertaken before surgery.