Medical tourism refers to people traveling abroad to obtain medical treatment. In the past, this usually referred to those who traveled from less-developed countries to major medical centers in highly developed countries for treatment unavailable at home. However, in recent years it may equally refer to those from developed countries who travel to developing countries for lower-priced medical treatments. The motivation may be also for medical services unavailable or non-licensed in the home country: There are differences between the medical agencies worldwide which decide whether a drug is approved in their country or not. Even within Europe, although therapy protocols might be approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA), several countries have their own review organizations in order to evaluate whether the same therapy protocol would be "cost-effective", so that patients face differences in the therapy protocols, particularly in the access of these drugs, which might be partially explained by the financial strength of the particular Health System.
Two-tier healthcare is a situation in which a basic government-provided healthcare system provides basic care, and a secondary tier of care exists for those who can pay for additional, better quality or faster access. Most countries have both publicly and privately funded healthcare, but the degree to which it creates a quality differential depends on the way the two systems are managed, funded, and regulated.
Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is a British public sector healthcare provider located in Cambridge, England. It was established on 4 November 1992 as Addenbrooke's National Health Service Trust, and authorised as an NHS foundation trust under its current name on 1 July 2004.
Independent sector treatment centres (ISTCs) are private-sector owned treatment centres contracted within the English National Health Service to treat NHS patients free at the point of use. They are sometimes referred to as 'surgicentres' or ‘specialist hospitals’. ISTCs are often co-located with NHS hospitals. They perform common elective surgery and diagnostic procedures and tests. Typically they undertake 'bulk' surgery such as hip replacements, cataract operations or MRI scans rather than more complex operations such as neurosurgery.
Netcare Limited is a South African private healthcare company. It operates through a number of subsidiaries and employs just over 21 000 people.
The University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust provides adult district general hospital services for Birmingham as well as specialist treatments for the West Midlands.
Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (NUH) is one of England's largest acute teaching trusts. It was established on 1 April 2006 following the merger of Nottingham City Hospital and the Queen's Medical Centre NHS Trusts. They provide acute and specialist services to 2.5m people within Nottingham and surrounding communities at the Queen's Medical Centre (QMC) and the City Hospital campuses, as well as specialist services for a further 3-4m people from across the region.
King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is an NHS trust in London, England. It is closely involved with Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, with which it shares its chair, Sir Hugh Taylor, its strategy director and IT director. It is assumed that the two organisations will eventually merge.
Healthcare in the United Kingdom is a devolved matter, with England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales each having their own systems of publicly funded healthcare, funded by and accountable to separate governments and parliaments, together with smaller private sector and voluntary provision. As a result of each country having different policies and priorities, a variety of differences have developed between these systems since devolution.
The National Health Service (NHS) is the publicly funded healthcare system in England, and one of the four National Health Service systems in the United Kingdom. It is the second largest single-payer healthcare system in the world after the Brazilian Sistema Único de Saúde. Primarily funded by the government from general taxation, and overseen by the Department of Health and Social Care, the NHS provides healthcare to all legal English residents and residents from other regions of the UK, with most services free at the point of use for most people. The NHS also conducts research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).
Healthcare in England is mainly provided by the National Health Service (NHS), a public body that provides healthcare to all permanent residents in England, that is free at the point of use. The body is one of four forming the UK National Health Service as health is a devolved matter, there are differences with the provisions for healthcare elsewhere in the United Kingdom, and in England it is overseen by NHS England. Though the public system dominates healthcare provision in England, private health care and a wide variety of alternative and complementary treatments are available for those willing and able to pay.
The Independent Healthcare Providers Network (IHPN), formerly known as the NHS Partners Network, is a representative body for independent sector healthcare providers in the United Kingdom.
Spire Healthcare Group plc is the second-largest provider of private healthcare in the United Kingdom. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.
BMI Healthcare was an independent provider of private healthcare, offering treatment to private patients, medically insured patients, and NHS patients. As of 2019, it had 54 private hospitals and healthcare facilities across the UK, with headquarters in London. In December 2019, it was acquired by a parent company of Circle Health and was replaced by Circle Health Group in 2022.
Ramsay Health Care Limited is an Australian multinational healthcare provider and hospital network, founded by Paul Ramsay in Sydney, Australia, in 1964. The company operates in Australia, Europe, the UK, and Asia, specialising in surgery, rehabilitation and psychiatric care.
Healthcare in Kent has, from 1 July 2022, been mainly the responsibility of the Kent & Medway Integrated Care Board. Certain specialised services are directly commissioned by NHS England, coordinated through the South East integrated regional team. Some NHS England structures are aligned on a Kent and Medway basis, others on a South East basis and there is liaison with London to provide many tertiary healthcare services.
IMS MAXIMS is a supplier of electronic health record software to the public and private sectors in UK and the Republic of Ireland.
Private healthcare in the UK, where universal state-funded healthcare is provided by the National Health Service, is a niche market.
Elysium Healthcare is a private provider of mental health services based in Borehamwood, UK. It was launched in December 2016 and combined sites from the portfolio of Partnerships in Care and The Priory Group when they were sold by Acadia Healthcare. It was owned by BC Partners. In October 2020 Elysium hired JP Morgan to advise on the sale of the business. The price tag was estimated to be circa £900 million. In December 2021 Ramsay Health Care UK bought the company for £775 million.
The private provision of NHS services has been controversial since at least 1990. Keep Our NHS Public, NHS Support Federation and other groups have campaigned against the threat of privatisation, largely in England.
