Transnational Healthcare Preferences Among EU Nationals in the UK: A Qualitative Assessment

Chris Moreh,Derek Mcghee,Athina Vlachantoni

doi:10.1177/13607804211058744

Abstract

This article explores the motivational factors behind preferences for medical care in the country of residence or the country of origin among EU nationals living in the UK. Undertaking a thematic analysis on a large-N qualitative data set, the article aims to establish a data-driven typology of motivations inductively. This provides an intermediary analysis between qualitative depth and quantitative operationalisability, contributing to the existing literature on healthcare location preferences among transnationally connected social groups. This article finds that preferences for medical care in the country of origin are driven overwhelmingly by quality considerations, while preferences for the UK have more to do with convenience and financing. These perceptions result from negative personal experiences, lack of trust, and often concealed cultural differences, and the analysis identifies various nuances and connections between attitudes that previous in-depth qualitative studies could not systematise.

Highlights

This article is concerned with advancing the analytical tools in the analysis of what is conceptualised as transnational healthcare by forwarding the understanding of health practices of Polish migrants in the United Kingdom
What is the extent of the use of different healthcare services by Poles living in the United Kingdom? How does the use of services change in time? How can we best analyse the complexity of service use within time? We
We contribute to the body of scholarship on transnational healthcare by operationalising these two aspects in the analysis of healthcare access by Poles living in the United Kingdom

Summary

Introduction

These have been previously analysed without considering them as processes that unfold in time dynamically. Of the 6 million non-British Nationals living in the UK, Poles constitute the biggest group with 815 thousand estimated residents (ONS 2020) They are prone to travel back to their country of origin (Burrell 2011) and to access healthcare in Poland (Horsfall 2019), the latter within a more general trend of Europeans living in the United Kingdom (Moreh, McGhee, and Vlachantoni 2018). Together with the use of the NHS, research indicates that Poles access to private medical services in Poland and private polish clinics in the UK (Osipovič 2013; Reading 2014; Main 2014; Bell et al 2019; Smoleń 2013a)

Objectives

Findings

Conclusion