Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will take steps with Cabinet colleagues and European counterparts to underwrite the health insurance of British citizens to travel to countries within the European Union for medical trials, who are not able to access health insurance due to their medical condition and are therefore otherwise unable to travel.

United Kingdom residents who are eligible for a UK Global Health Insurance Card can access medically necessary healthcare supplied through the state healthcare system during a temporary stay in a European Union Member State. Whether treatment is medically necessary is determined by the treating healthcare provider, taking account of the nature of the treatment and the expected length of the stay. Treatment provided as part of a medical trial does not fall within the scope of the UK’s reciprocal healthcare arrangements.

We are committed to turbo-charging clinical research in the UK to give more patients access to innovative treatments.