People wanting to travel abroad for cosmetic procedures such as Brazilian butt lifts (BBL) should be wary of offers that seem “too good to be true”, the health minister has warned.
Wes Streeting said his “strong advice” to the British public is that they should “think carefully” about the risks before opting for “extreme prices” abroad.
Several women have died in recent years after traveling to Turkey for cut-price surgery – with the Royal College of Surgeons holding a meeting on the ‘growing crisis’ next month.
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Mr. Streeting said: “I think we need to take this issue of medical negligence and negligence overseas very seriously.
“My strong advice to British travelers is if the offer seems too good to be true, I suspect it is too good to be true, and think very carefully before you fly abroad, paying what looks like an attractive price, because it could end up to pay the consequences for years to come as a result of injuries, which at worst can be life-changing.”
The cabinet minister said he was “determined to work with international partners to try to improve security for Britons abroad”.
“But we also need to send a strong message to the British public to manage the risks, do their homework and think very carefully before accepting offers that are too good to be true,” he added.
Asked if the NHS should pick up the pieces when things go wrong, he said: “We are never going to turn away people who need care, but this is another pressure the NHS doesn’t need.
“So I would urge Britons – before traveling abroad – to think very carefully before accessing those cosmetic treatments that are currently on the market at cut-price prices.”
Foreign Office figures show that at least six Britons died in Turkey in 2023 after traveling abroad for medical procedures.
In total, 28 British nationals have died in the country after elective surgery since 2019, the figures show.
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The victims include Hayley Dowell, 38, who suffered medical complications at a private clinic and died after having a butt lift in Brazil, a tummy tuck and liposuction in Turkey last October, according to a recent inquest.
Janet Lynne Savage, 54, of Bangor, also died after suffering severe trauma to an artery during a gastric sleeve weight loss procedure in Turkey in 2023, a coroner said.
Emergency meeting of experts
The Royal College of Surgeons said it will hold a meeting early next month to find solutions to unacceptable standards of treatment abroad, to which the Ministry of Health and the embassies of Turkey and Lithuania have been invited.
The group’s vice-president, Professor Vivien Lees, said: “After years of inaction by officials, we are now calling an urgent meeting of experts in health, advertising and trade authorities, along with foreign governments, to tackle 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 mortality rate of all cosmetic procedures”.
Echoing the language of Mr. Streeting, added: “Shake fixes and surgeries leave the NHS to repair the damage and taxpayers to foot the bill.
“I would urge anyone considering acquiring BBL to think twice before accepting an offer that seems too good to be true.”
As well as the deaths among Britons, the Foreign Office said some people “have also experienced complications and needed further treatment or surgery after their procedure”.
He said anyone thinking of traveling to Turkey for treatment should discuss plans with their doctor or dentist, adding that “private companies have a financial interest in booking your treatment and their literature should not be the only one your source of information’.
The government also warned that it would not usually be able to help people stuck abroad because of the costs and complications associated with cosmetic surgery as “scheduled medical care is considered a commercial arrangement”.
