Asked, and answered plainly.

The licensed hospital treating you — and we will always be plain about that. We are a facilitator: we select providers, arrange everything around your care, sit alongside you through the week, and manage the handover to your GP. Clinical responsibility sits with the treating hospital, under Chinese national regulation. Before you book, you’ll know exactly which hospital and which department you’re in.

If an assessment finds something needing attention, our physician talks you through it the same day, in English, and helps you decide: investigate further in Lecheng, or return home with a complete dossier for your GP or specialist — we prepare either path. In the unlikely event of a clinical problem, the treating hospital manages it under its licence, and we stay with you throughout — interpreting, advocating, and keeping your family informed if you wish. We also require all clients to hold travel insurance that covers medical care abroad, and can advise on suitable policies.

The senior clinicians in the international departments generally do; nursing and support staff often don’t. That’s why every clinic visit includes a medical interpreter, and why our founder — fluent in both languages — reviews every report before it reaches you. Nothing important will ever reach you only in Mandarin.

For assessments, it’s less about exotic tests than about completeness and speed: whole-body MRI, CT coronary calcium scoring, genomic panels and full blood diagnostics in one coordinated week, rather than months of referrals. Beyond assessment, the zone is licensed for 464 international treatments, including regenerative therapies not yet available in the UK or US — if a consultation there interests you, our physician will give you a straight view on the evidence, including when the straight view is “not yet worth your money.”

Every programme ends with a complete English-language dossier — results, images, reference ranges, and the treating physicians’ findings — plus a debrief call with our founding physician. We then prepare a structured GP handover letter in the format British practices expect. Your GP is never left interpreting a foreign report cold.

Possibly — but this is precisely what the physician review before booking is for. Our founder reviews your history before anything is confirmed, and will tell you plainly if a programme isn’t right for you, or if your needs are better served at home. We would rather lose a booking than arrange the wrong week.

Fly to Haikou or Sanya, usually via Hong Kong, Singapore or mainland hubs — around 14–16 hours from London all told. UK and US passport holders can currently use Hainan’s visa-free entry for short stays; where a medical visa is the better route, we handle the paperwork. Either way, it’s our problem, not yours: routing advice, documents, and a driver waiting at the terminal are part of every programme.

Calmer than you expect. Clinic time happens in two or three escorted mornings — private appointments, no waiting rooms full of strangers, an interpreter beside you. The rest is a five-star tropical holiday: the east-coast resorts, the sea, the rainforest, the spa. Most clients tell us the strangest part is how little of the week felt medical.

Please. Partners join most weeks we arrange — either taking the same assessment (we price a second programme at a reduced rate) or simply sharing the resort and the island. The Sanctuary is designed for two from the start.

The saving is real — comparable assessments in London or New York typically cost two to three times more — and the reason is unexciting: costs in Hainan are lower, and the zone’s hospitals were built with government backing to attract international patients. You are not buying discounted medicine; you are buying the same class of equipment and clinicians in a place where they cost less. We publish our prices because we think the industry’s quote-by-email habit serves clinics, not clients.

Within two working days, our founding physician reviews your enquiry and replies personally. You’ll speak (or write, if you prefer), settle dates and any medical questions, and receive a written itinerary with the final price. Only then do we take a deposit; the balance is due four weeks before travel. Nothing is owed until you’ve confirmed the plan.

Everything from the moment you land: visa handling, all transfers, five-star accommodation, every test and consultation in your programme, your interpreter, the English dossier, the physician debrief, and the GP handover. Not included: flights (we advise on routes and can book on request), travel insurance, and anything you choose to add on the island. If we quote a price, that price is what you pay.