§ 5. Dr. GibsonIf he will take action to ensure that insurance companies pay the full cost of road traffic accident care to NHS trusts. [18231]
§ The Minister for Public Health (Ms Tessa Jowell)Following the statement made by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer on 2 July 1997, Official Report, column 315, we are taking action to recoup in full the costs that we are entitled to recover from insurance companies for the treatment of road traffic accident victims.
§ Dr. GibsonI thank my hon. Friend for that reply, which will please the members of the Norwich community health council who raised the issue with me. Will she consider extending that policy to the treatment of other patients, such as the victims of workplace accidents, many of whom are children?
§ Ms JowellI thank my hon. Friend for that question. We shall update legislation to make the scheme more effective on road traffic accidents. On other matters, we shall ensure that the principles of a national health service funded from taxation and free at the point of use prevail.
§ Mrs. RoeWill the Minister confirm that this is the only occasion on which the Government will ask outside groups to fund a core health service activity?
§ Ms JowellThere is absolutely nothing new about the provision, which has been available since the 1930s. The Government are seeking to update it to make it work and to raise income that can be spent on front-line patient care.
§ Dr. BrandThe Minister appeared to agree with the question. May I check her phrasing? Did she agree that the NHS should charge the full cost of the consequences 783 of road traffic accidents or the full entitlement? Are there any plans to alter the entitlement that the NHS can claw back from insurance companies?
§ Ms JowellAs I said in my reply, in redrafting the legislation, we are looking at ways of making the provision work in practice. At this stage, we are considering moving to a tariff system to replace the capped expenditure system that currently applies.