Patients' Rights Directive 2011

The Patients’ Rights Directive 2011 (2011/24/EU) is a Directive in EU law that codifies rights to receive health care across member state borders. It enables member states to require prior authority to manage outflow of patients, and permission can be refused on safety grounds.

Contents
Article 4 states that with the "principles of universality, access to good quality care, equity and solidarity, cross-border healthcare shall be provided" according to member state laws, and EU safety legislation. Article 5 requires certain cross border health care to be reimbursed. Article 7 sets out the restrictions and requirements for reimbursing health care costs.

Case law
Before the Directive, under what is now TFEU article 56, in R (Watts) v Bedford Primary Care Trust a patient from Britain travelled to France for a hip replacement to avoid long waiting lists and applied for reimbursement, claiming that otherwise her freedom to receive services was infringed. The Court of Justice held that proportionate restrictions could be legitimate.