Cosmetic surgery patients are returning to the UK with superbugs

British patients who travel abroad for cheap cosmetic surgery are bringing back dangerous superbugs, nurses have warned.

Some NHS hospitals had a 30 per cent rise in infections caused by potentially fatal antibiotic-resistant bacteria, triggered by patients returning from operations overseas.

NHS nurses spoke of “horrific wounds”, infections, sepsis and deaths in patients over the past two years from complications after having surgery overseas — and suggested that foreign clinics should pay the NHS compensation when things go wrong.

Thousands of British patients faced with long NHS waiting lists and high costs for private surgery in are going abroad instead, most often to Turkey and eastern Europe.

Popular procedures include weight-loss surgery, breast procedures and “Brazilian butt lifts” (BBLs). Clinics often offer “package deals” of several procedures, which adds to the risk.

Wes Streeting, the health secretary, has urged people to “think very carefully” before going overseas for surgery — warning that the NHS is left to “pick up the pieces”.

Read full story (paywalled)

Source: The Times, 14 May 2025