A holiday for many of us in the UK used to mean a fortnight on the Costa Brava fuelled by jugs of sangria and many hours spent sunning ourselves on the beach.

But a recent study reports that more and more of us are taking health and wellness breaks to rejuvenate and refresh ourselves.

Last year Britons spent more than £135 million on wellness breaks, and it is forecast that such spending will double by 2011. In 2006 32% of adults visited a spa or sauna and 23% spent money having a massage.

The “health farms” of the past, which were more like prisons than hotels, have been replaced with luxurious hotels offering a wide range of treatments and programmes to meet this growing demand for healthy holidays.

But we are not just heading abroad for yoga, ayurveda, tai chi and meditation – the number of medical tourists is growing year on year – and even month by month. One website offering medical tourism says that over the last 18 months the number of monthly enquiries has grown from 300 per month to over one thousand a month.

Over 50, 000 Britons travelled overseas to Eastern Europe, India or the far East last year in order to avoid paying for expensive treatment here in the UK. Dentistry tops the bill procedures that we are flocking overseas for, with cosmetic surgery, hip and knee replacements and fertility treatment hot on its trail.

In an email survey 10% of respondents said that they would consider cosmetic surgery overseas where it is considerably cheaper and can be performed more quickly. The cheapest ‘boob job’ can be found in India at a cost of around £1300, almost £3000 cheaper than in Britain. Of course you need to pay for flights and accommodation on top of this, though some providers ‘throw in’ 10 days in a hotel included in the price of the surgery.

However there are a number of potential pitfalls to be considered before opting to travel for surgery or dental work.

The quality of blood donations may be questionable – make sure that blood is screened for blood borne viruses and antibodies. Some unscrupulous clinics may use counterfeit drugs, although if you are travelling through a reputable medical travel agency this is unlikely.

Different countries have different medical protocols to the UK – for example the British Transplant Society recently warned that those travelling to China for transplants may receive the organs of executed prisoners.

There is also the issue of differing medical terminology or mistranslation of medical notes that could lead to difficulties. And if you should have complications during or after the procedure you may need to extend your stay at extra cost. Again many medical tourism companies over a ‘fixed price’ that covers all eventualities but be sure to check this carefully.

Finally, if things do go wrong, it may be difficult to hold the surgeon accountable or take legislative action for compensation. In one such case, a British man had a knee replacement in Belgium that became infected post operatively. He has since undergone over 40 hours of surgery on the NHS – in that time 14 joint replacements could have been done on UK patients.

However none of these concerns are slowing the market and although the trend is mainly financially driven, many patients also cite concerns regarding hospital acquired infections such as MRSA and C difficile as the reason they are choosing to travel.

If you do choose to travel for surgery you should be aware of a counter argument growing here in the UK – although for now the NHS will deal with your situation should complications arise, more and more health trusts are beginning to question this strategy and it may be that before too long the Health Trusts will not be willing to pick up the tab.