‘I TRAVELLED 1,500 MILES FOR MY HIP OP BECAUSE I THOUGHT I’D DIE BEFORE THE NHS COULD DO IT’
AN 85-YEAR-OLD man travelled 1,500 miles abroad to have his hip replaced as he feared he wouldn’t live long enough to have it done on the NHS.
Peter Gaillard, now 86, made the decision to travel from his home in Gwynedd to Lithuania and pay £6,000 to have his left hip replaced in 2018 after being told he would have to wait 80 weeks for an operation at Ysbyty Gwynedd.
Mr Gaillard then discovered that due to the operation not being possible in a reasonable amount of time in this country he was able to claim the £6,000 cost back from Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board when he returned.
Under certain circumstances, Welsh residents are entitled to secure funding for healthcare treatment in other European Economic Area (EEA) Countries.
Mr Gaillard, who had his right hip replaced privately in the UK in 2004, said: “I returned from Australia in January 2018 and decided it was time to do something about the pain my left hip was causing me.
“I saw a specialist and was told there was an 80-week waiting-list, so I decided to do a bit of research.
“I did not feel I could hang around.
“I found that it was possible to have the operation in Lithuania for £6,000 as opposed to paying £12,000 to have it done privately in this country.
“At this time I didn’t know about the reimbursement – it wasn’t until I was e-mailing the nurse at the Lithuanian hospital that she told me she thought it would be possible for me to get my money back.”
On October 8 last year Mr Gaillard had the surgery to replace his left hip and returned home 10 days later.
He immediately got in touch with the Individual Patient Funding Request (IPFR) department at BCUHB and he received a refund of the treatment costs within three weeks.
He added: “The whole process went very, very well. It turns out you can apply and have the NHS pay upfront.”
Under rules brought in in 2014, there is provision for people to have operations done abroad and paid for by the Welsh NHS if they are likely to have to wait a long time otherwise.
A Betsi Cadwaladr Health Board spokesman said: “Tackling waitingtimes is a significant priority, and we are developing a plan which will expand and improve these services available in north Wales.”