MPs have questioned the cost of COVID-19 tests for patients travelling abroad for treatment.
Last week, Holly Mumby-Croft MP for Scunthorpe addressed Secretary of State for Health, Matt Hancock, in the House of Commons.
She said: “Along with the Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Brain Tumours, my Hon. Friend the Member for St Ives (Derek Thomas), I have previously raised the issue of residents who travel abroad for medical treatment having to pay hundreds of pounds for COVID tests to travel out and to return. This is affecting my constituent, David Hopkins, and others across the country. Will the Health Secretary work with the Secretary of State for Transport urgently to find a way to allow patients such as David to use free NHS tests for medical travel purposes?”
Matt Hancock replied: “My Hon. Friend raises an important point, and I am happy to look into it. I am also pleased that the cost of the tests that are needed for travel is coming down and an important piece of work is under way to see how we can get that down further. Nevertheless, my Hon. Friend makes a strong case for her constituent.”
Holly has previously written on her Facebook page: “My view is that no one who is travelling abroad for medical treatment should have to face the additional costs of paying for a COVID test to travel and return. I will continue to push the government on this issue affecting local residents. Thank you to Team Hopkins for raising this with me and continuing to work with me on this.”
Having attended our APPG meetings, Holly joined us at our virtual Westminster event held in March. At that event, David Hopkins’ wife Nicki spoke about the difficulty and cost of accessing treatment abroad for her husband who has been diagnosed with a grade 4 glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). Treatment that isn’t available on the NHS.
We look forward to engaging further with Holly to push our agenda striving to improve options and outcomes for brain tumour patients through UK-based discovery science. We thank everyone at #TeamHopkins for their campaigning support and send our very best wishes following David’s recent surgery.
Many questions are being asked by MPs of Ministers following the publication of our Level Up and Stop the Devastation Report. To keep up to date with what is happening at Westminster and in the devolved Governments visit our campaign with us page and sign up to receive weekly campaigning updates.
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