People who want to travel abroad for cosmetic surgery like Brazilian butt lifts (BBL) should be weary about offers that seem “too good to be true”, the health secretary has warned.
Wes Streeting said his “strong advice” to the British public is that they should “think carefully” about the risks before opting for “rock bottom prices” overseas.
Several women have lost their lives in the last few years after travelling to Turkey for cut-price surgery – with the Royal College of Surgeons to hold a meeting on the “growing crisis” next month.
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Mr Streeting said: “I think we need to take very seriously this issue of medical negligence and malpractice overseas.
“My strong advice to British travellers is if the offer looks too good to be true, I suspect it is too good to be true, and think very carefully before flying overseas, paying what looks like a kind of rock bottom attractive price, because you may end up paying the consequences for years to come as a result of injuries, which in the worst cases can be life-changing.”
The cabinet minister said he was “determined to work with international partners to try and improve safety for Brits abroad”.
“But we also need to send a strong message to the British public to manage the risks, to do their homework and think very carefully before taking up offers that are too good to be true,” he added.
Asked whether the NHS should be picking up the pieces when things go wrong, he said: “We’re never going to turn people away who are in need of care but this is another pressure the NHS doesn’t need.
“So I would urge Brits – before travelling abroad – to think very carefully before accessing those cosmetic treatments that are currently being marketed at rock bottom prices.”
Foreign Office data shows that at least six British people died in Turkey in 2023 after travelling abroad for medical procedures.
Overall, 28 British nationals have died in the country following planned surgery since 2019, the data shows.
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Victims include Hayley Dowell, 38, who suffered medical complications at a private clinic and died after she had a Brazilian butt lift, tummy tuck and liposuction in Turkey in October last year, a recent inquest heard.
Janet Lynne Savage, 54, from Bangor, also died after major artery trauma during a gastric sleeve weight loss procedure in Turkey in 2023, a coroner said.
Experts’ urgent meeting
The Royal College of Surgeons said it was holding a meeting early next month to find solutions to unacceptable standards of treatment abroad, which the Department of Health and the Turkish and Lithuanian embassies have been invited to.
The group’s vice president, Professor Vivien Lees, said: “After years of inaction from officials, we are now convening an urgent meeting with experts across health, advertising and trade authorities, together with foreign governments, to address this growing crisis.”
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Stephen Powis, the NHS’s national medical director, said Brazilian butt lifts – where fat is transferred to a patient’s bum from other parts of their body – “have the highest death rate among all cosmetic procedures”.
Echoing Mr Streeting’s language, he added: “Dodgy tweakments and surgeries are leaving the NHS to repair the damage and taxpayers to foot the bill.
“I’d urge anyone considering a BBL to think twice before taking up an offer that seems too good to be true.”
As well as deaths among Britons, the Foreign Office said some people “have also experienced complications and needed further treatment or surgery following their procedure”.
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It said anyone considering travelling to Turkey for treatment should discuss the plans with their own doctor or dentist, adding that “private companies have a financial interest in booking your treatment and their literature should not be your only source of information”.
The government also warned that it would not typically be able to help people stuck abroad because of costs and complications associated with cosmetic surgery as “planned medical treatment is considered a commercial arrangement”.
