City Research Online

Abstract

The number of British patients travelling beyond the frontiers of their health care jurisdiction to receive medical treatment has recently increased because of scarcer resources and unreasonable waiting times in NHS health care facilities. As the United Kingdom prepares for its departure from the European Union, the fl ows of medi- cal tourists seeking health care in EU member states may become the object of important negotiations. The unbounded phenomenon of medical tourism in the atypical political and economic context of Brexit represents a unique opportunity to conceptualize solutions beyond the traditional frontiers of health care law.

Thus, this paper proposes to take an unprecedented approach using a sociological framework based on Niklas Luhmann’s work on autopoietic systems to examine the current European legal frame- work on cross-border health care services and to formulate a concrete policy proposal to achieve greater social justice in health care using marketplace and trade dynamics. A bilateral treaty on cross-border health care services taking the form of a public procurement could uphold universality of care and equality in treatment in the United Kingdom and participating European member states. Established contracts would offer a sustainable solution to issues of continuity of care, medical malpractice and may lead to signifi cant cost reduction in health care.

Publication Type:	Book Section
Additional Information:	Reproduced with permission from Editions Yvon Blais, Thomson Reuters.
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HJ Public Finance J Political Science > JN Political institutions (Europe) K Law R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine > RA0421 Public health. Hygiene. Preventive Medicine
Departments:	The City Law School > Academic Programmes The City Law School > International Law and Affairs Group

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