German firm ready to treat British patients

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Leading article: Mr Milburn is right to use patient choice to drive up standards in the NHS

Milburn: Private sector is part of NHS family

Cautious welcome for move to cut surgery delays

German firm ready to treat British patients

'My life has been held in limbo - I'm waiting for this operation to get it back'

Thousands of heart patients who have waited more than six months for surgery will be offered treatment at another NHS hospital, at a private clinic or overseas, Alan Milburn, the Health Secretary, said.

The Cologne-based company GerMedic was set up after reforms three years ago enabled Germany's 2,400 hospitals to sell bed space. The law change heralded the establishment of the non-profit making Committee for Promoting German Medi-cine in Foreign Countries, whose aim is "to promote the quality and efficiency" of the system to foreigners and return the revenue to the system that has served 80 million Germans so well.

In April last year the first of 1,500 Norwegians needing artificial knees and hips checked into hospitals in Schleswig-Holstein as the Oslo government sought to clear a backlog of an estimated 290,000 patients awaiting mainly orthopaedic operations.

GerMedic organised the programme from the provision of translators to the transport arrangements and the 1 billion-kroner bill was picked up by the Norwegian health department. GerMedic, a commercial company, has also struck deals to find treatment at one of the 120 member hospitals with the Swedish health insurance company Scandia and private agencies in Eastern Europe and the Middle East. Danish cancer patients in need of radiotherapy are due to be treated soon.

The scheme is used mainly for elective, orthopaedic surgery such as knee, hip and shoulder operations for which there is no waiting list in Germany.

Estimated suggest a hip operation that would cost the NHS £4,000 in Britain would cost up to £6,500 in Germany. For that GerMedic provides a choice of hospitals and ensures VIP treatment.