Abdulrahman Alajmi
16 Apr 2025 · Coroner Ellie Oakley · Inner West London
The coroner's concerns
1. lack of standardized acceptance procedure for cross-border patient treatment
“no set procedure regarding the acceptance by hospitals in the UK of patients for treatment from other countries”
2. arrival condition worse than anticipated causing treatment mismatch
“patients often arrive in a substantially different (often worse) condition to that described to the receiving clinicians when they accepted the referral and agreed that they were able to provide treatment”
3. inconsistent referral acceptance criteria across hospitals
“it is up to each individual hospital to determine whether they are willing and able to accept a referral and agree the process for transfer of the patient”
4. UK visa and referral processes can be modified to improve safety
“the process by which hospitals in the UK accept referrals from other countries and the provision of visas (and any conditions attached to them) for those individuals to enter the UK for that treatment is within the control of the UK”
5. lack of safety mechanisms for incoming medical patients
“absence of systems or structures to ensure that patients arriving in the UK for medical treatment are able to be received (by the ambulance transferring them and the hospital treating them) safely and be properly treated: with a full understanding of the accurate and up to date medical position”
6. increased risk of patient harm and system overload
“patients are being put at risk, leading to the possibility of future deaths occurring, and that the UK's health services are put under unnecessary strain by receiving patients who are more unwell than anticipated when a referral is accepted”