§ Mr. Rookerasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will publish the amount of debt not yet recovered or written off by the NHS in respect of pay-bed patients for each region outstanding at any convenient date.
§ Mr. MoyleThe accounts submitted to my Department annually by health authorities indicate the aggregate debtor balance at 31st March each year, but the part of this total represented by pay bed patients is not separately identified.
§ Mr. Rookerasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will now collect and publish the amount of bad debts in respect of pay bed patients which have been written off by each regional health authority in the latest year for which figures are available.
§ Mr. MoyleAs my right hon. Friend stated in reply to my hon. Friend on 26th July—[Vol. 916, c.102–3]—the total amount of bad debts in respect of pay bed income is not separately identified.
§ Mr. Rookerasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will publish in the Official Report the letter he sent to the hon. Member for Birmingham, Perry Barr concerning bad debts owed by 739W pay bed patients following his reply of 27th July, Official Report, column 102.
§ Mr. MoyleThe total amount of bad debts incurred by pay bed patients which were recovered by each regional health authority in 1975–76 following instigation of legal action is as follows:
£ Northern 1,424 Yorkshire 18,178 Trent 15,000 East Anglia 1,847 NW Thames 43,811 NE Thames 28,749 SE Thames 17,243 SW Thames 2,453 Wessex 13,288 Oxford 13,473 South Western 6,439 West Midlands 6,750 Mersey 937 North Western 1,111 Total 170,703