While there may be specific one off examples of how the NHS has gone abroad successfully, it's a stretch to imagine taking the system abroad in a bigger way and it somehow will be a success. As someone who has opened up businesses around the world for over twenty years, there's nothing simple or straightforward about it. Assuming a few examples can be magically repeated in other countries, with other laws and different cultures is wishful thinking.
Even if it was easy to do and profits were there to be plucked from the sky, how does this improve the core mission of providing quality healthcare to the UK? This is a terrible idea that will only be a distraction. The Guardian:
Hospitals are to be encouraged by the government to sell their services abroad, setting up clinics with the famous NHS brand to pull in much-needed cash for the health service from overseas.
The scheme – which has been put together by the Department of Health (DH) and the UK Trade and Investment department (UKTI) – attracted immediate criticism from the Patients Association, concerned that in times of financial stringency at home, establishing overseas clinics would be a distraction too far and could undermine standards at home.
But the government points to clinics that already exist, run by big-name NHS trusts with a reputation around the world, such as Moorfields Eye Hospital and Great Ormond Street children's hospital in the Middle East. The government thinks there could be lucrative possibilities for NHS-standard healthcare services in growing markets such as India and China.
