The European Court of Justice today ruled that public patients who are kept waiting for treatment are entitled to travel to other EU countries for the treatment and to have the costs reimbursed by their home country. The case concerned a British pensioner who had a hip operation done in France.

Liz McManus TD points out that the decision establishes that the relevant test is whether the patient’s clinician believes that a waiting time for surgery is undue, rather than any official waiting list target set by the government or a health body. Labour's response is at
http://www.labour.ie/press/listing/20060516143343.html

The ECJ's ruling is at http://www.curia.europa.eu/en/actu/comm ... 0042en.pdf

BBC coverage is at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4985512.stm They cite a Dr Greer, whom they describe as an expert on the influence of Europe on British health policy, as saying that the ruling "means we really have a European health system".

Very significant I think.