Family told to pay £30k to fly sick Scot home from Turkey

Ministers have been urged to intervene to help a Scottish woman battling E.coli to return home from a Turkish hospital.

Martin Docherty-Hughes has urged Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson to plead for cancer patient Caroline Hope.

SNP MP Martin Docherty-Hughes had written to Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson to plead for cancer patient Caroline Hope, who contracted an E.coli infection following complications from emergency surgery in Turkey.

Her family has been told to raise more than £30,000 to pay for a private medical evacuation back to the UK, the West Dunbartonshire MP told the Commons.

Mr Docherty-Hughes, speaking during the business statement, said: “Caroline Hope, who on travelling to Turkey on personal matters before returning home to Scotland, has been diagnosed with cancer and sought emergency surgery, and has now been infected with E.coli.

“She is now having to rely on the support both of family, friends and strangers to raise over £30,000 to bring Caroline home to Scotland to West Dunbartonshire.

“Could I impress upon you to seek from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and the Foreign Secretary a quick response to a letter I have sent to them this week?”

Commons Leader Andrea Leadsom said she was “incredibly sympathetic” to Ms Hope’s case and urged Mr Docherty-Hughes to raise it with the Foreign Office.