To think that those who go abroad for cheap cosmetic surgery should insure themselves...

[jemenfous37]

...so that when it all goes wrong, which it inevitably does, the NHS isn't left with the repair bill.

Eveyone moans that the NHS is underfunded, many happily blame migrants (legal or otherwise) or govt underfunding etc.

Yet they then expect it to clear up the mess when their tummy tuck/eyelash extension go wrong. Why should the public fund their vanity project - the surgery they thought they'd get on the cheap in a sunny country?

We cannot afford to provide many procedures/drugs that are actually necessary, but hey, why not spend what little we have hoovering up the consequences of vanity and what appears to be terminal stubborness (because it isn't as if people don't know the potential risks, the media has been covering such stories for years)?

Needed to be done. Essential. Required.

Wow that's amazing!! Is your life transformed? Well done!! ( I know I'm missing the point here!)

"Needed to be done. Essential. Required."

Who decides what's 'necessary'? Most cosmetic surgery is not available on the nhs. But people might still experience a benefit of said cosmetic surgery, so they pay for it - either here or abroad. Cosmetic surgery goes wrong in both locations.

So are you saying that in your opinion, if it's not available on the NHS, it's 'not necessary', therefore no one should have privately paid for cosmetic surgery, even though it might make them feel better about themselves in the long run (eg my nose job analogy earlier)?

Is that your opinion? @silverxylophone

God this is so true.

Obesity is seen as a moral issue, anorexia is seen as an illness

Obesity kills, therefore to go abroad to have weight loss surgery is necessary if you cant afford in this country and cant wait the 3 year waiting list, (and thats even if you get accepted)

OK, but would any insurer cover this?

@TheNoodlesIncident

What insurance company would cover a person against something going wrong in private surgery abroad?

Well, the person who takes the risk needs to be liable if they can't find insurance. Yes, it may bankrupt them, but that's just taking people taking personal responsibility for their actions.

LIable for what, NHS costs?

How do they get calculated then, given that the NHS doesnt even get money from health tourists and I as a tax payer have contributed to the NHS

And as others have said, I assume you are applying this to drinkers and drug takers who clog up A+E regularly, they're going to pay for their care having taken the risk are they?

I don't know why you are picking words out of a fairly basic statement, and then delivering this bizarre series of diatribes addressed to me.

Here is a definition of cosmetic surgery:

"Cosmetic surgery is done to re-shape or change an otherwise healthy part of the body because a person believes it will improve their appearance, not for a medical reason."

I have no opinion on the NHS.

Wow! You think people should go bankrupt rather than use the NHS? Did you also advocate putting cheese in your coffee in the height of the pandemic?

Mental health IS a medical reason though. Perhaps not in all cases, but certainly some. It's bizarre you can't see that @silverxylophone

Whatever.

when does the surgery stop though does treating a mental health problem with surgery really cure .the mental health problem or does it just shift to another area of the body to be "fixed" ?

Well thought out response! You forgot to include the obligatory eyeroll emoji! 😂

@Mrsjayy I'm not suggesting that multiple surgeries is the way to go to improve psychological issues, I'm saying that defining cosmetic surgery as non-essential is not always black and white.

Fair enough.

Liable for what, NHS costs? How do they get calculated then, given that the NHS doesnt even get money from health tourists and I as a tax payer have contributed to the NHS

Yes, NHS costs. It's not beyond the ability of an NHS accountant to determine a cost schedule of rates. Obviously health tourists should be charged too!

I'm a taxpayer too, and I don't see why I should pay for the consequences of people's decisions to get treatment abroad.

Meh. You could argue the point til you are blue in the face. Doesn't matter - our NHS exists to respond to medical need. Whether that need arises through accident, misadventure, willful neglect of ones own body/safety or illness, it does it.

Start going down the road of deciding who is "worthy" of it isn't good for anyone.

I (vaguely) know one person who went abroad for cheap gastric surgery. Dangerous and stupid, imo, but they'd spent years in therapy, trying to diet and exercise etc and were no further forward. They were self harming, teetering on the edge of a heart attack and the NHS refused to do the surgery (again, debatable as to why and when they say no).

So they personally felt they had no choice but to go abroad. They are no less entitled to the pot of NHS money than me. In fact, given they are and will remain childless, have never claimed any sort of benefit in their life, even with any after care from surgery they cost the state way more than the average woman on here.

The NHS determines what is essential
and what isn't in their professional judgment . If it's essential then it is provided. No one is being turned away from A&E with life-threatening conditions!

So if someone chooses to get treatment abroad because the NHS won't provide it, or won't provide it as quickly as they'd like, then it is non-essential by definition.

Sorry, way less

But if they turn up at A&E with sepsis as an outcome of that surgery, then A&E rightly treat it.

We have an NHS service to treat illness and medical need, thats what its there for, no matter how the problem occured

I notice you're hanging on to problems caused by surgery abroad, but didnt answer my point about home grown problems costing the NHS an arm and a leg?

Why are you so hung up on it being abroad?

I might need to get my gall bladder removed, the NHS is notoriously slow at getting these out, preferring to wait until people have been unable to work, have numerous A+E visits and risk sepsis if stones get stuck

So if I need it, I may go private, I havent decided yet. I might go abroad or I might go in this country

Whats the difference?

Where do you draw the line though? As many people have said on here - other forms of personal choice also impact the nhs: having children, sports injuries, smoking, drinking, obesity, drug addiction.

Your taxes go your pay for all the people who use up nhs resources as a result of their personal choices.

Where do you draw the line?

The reality is that people like that dont want to fund that either, they just dont want to say that outloud.

Its the same as people who bang on about how we shouldnt pay for immigrants to have this or that and want the money 'saved for our own' - except they are the very same people who will begrudge benefit claimants and social housing to the poor. They dont want to pay for either group

@CandyLeBonBon

Where do you draw the line though? As many people have said on here - other forms of personal choice also impact the nhs: having children, sports injuries, smoking, drinking, obesity, drug addiction.
Your taxes go your pay for all the people who use up nhs resources as a result of their personal choices.Where do you draw the line?

I'd draw the line where there the action is a result of a clear deliberate choice where the issue or activity can be cleared defined... Choosing to go abroad for surgery meets that criteria. Being obese (how fat? Are their psychological or medical causes) or smoking (how many a day? When did you give up? etc) doesn't.

Public policy necessarily involves drawing lines all the time. It's imperfect and sometimes crude, but necessary. To argue for inaction because it means a judgment has to be made naively assumes life can be simplistically defined by right and wrong / black and white, and we live in a utopia where everything is possible and money is limitless.