§ Mr. Litherlandasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the average income per district received from the introduction of charges to overseas visitors using National Health Service facilities since the arrangements were instituted.
§ Mrs. Dunwoodyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what has been the income from charges on overseas visitors during the year since the implementation of these charges for each district health authority, regional health authority and in total.
§ Mr. Dobsonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services when he expects to be able to publish details of the income from charges for overseas visitors.
§ Mr. Kenneth Clarke[pursuant to his reply, 2 November, Vol. 47, c. 455]: It is not possible to produce an exact figure of income from the recent policy change as some overseas visitors now liable to pay charges for NHS services choose to be treated as private patients in NHS hospitals where the charges are very similar. Others choose to become patients in private hospitals. We can gather information on charges collected only from those patients who choose to remain NHS patients and pay charges under section 121 of the NHS Act 1977.
However this information for the year commencing 1 October 1982, the date these charges were introduced, is not available centrally. According to the annual accounts of health authorities for 1982–83 submitted to the Department figures of income from section 121 charges for each district health authority for the six months to 31 March 1982 are as follows. These give an average of about £1,794 per district. There are no circumstances in which such income should be collected by regional health authorities. Income at special health authorities and preserved boards of governors has been shown for completeness bringing the total for England as a whole to £374,459.
These first six months are likely to be untypical of the proper working of the scheme. Many health authorities failed to start the scheme on time. The six months in question were winter months when the number of overseas visitors is much less than in the rest of the year.
However, I am concerned by the apparent failure of some health authorities to collect charges from overseas patients who are liable to pay. The National Health Service
500Wand district the hospitals for which closure proposals have been submitted to him, giving the number of beds in each case.
§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeWe are at present considering the following proposals:
could make good use of the revenue that potentially could be raised. I have asked our officials to make inquiries of those authorities that do not appear to be implementing the new procedures. I would expect the auditors to question authorities who appear to be forgoing potential income.
I hope that political campaigning based on a misunderstanding of the policies recently introduced will not result in a loss of income which could be devoted to patient services.
501W
Income from Charges to Overseas Visitors—1 October 1982 to 31 March 1983 District Health Authorities £ Northern Region Hartlepool — North Tees — South Tees 25 East Cumbria 2,256 South Cumbria 206 West Cumbria — Darlington 876 Durham 52 North West Durham 33 South West Durham 460 Northumberland — Gateshead — Newcastle upon Tyne 4,315 North Tyneside — South Tyneside 72 Sunderland 28 Yorkshire Region Hull 2,851 East Yorkshire 619 Grimsby — Scunthorpe 789 Northallerton 95 York 975 Scarborough 1,403 Harrogate 275 Bradford 11,261 Airedale 1,106 Calderdale 98 Huddersfield 1,228 Dewsbury 1,457 Leeds Western 854 Leeds Eastern 1,161 Wakefield — Pontefract — Trent Region North Derbyshire — Southern Derbyshire 1,811 Leicestershire 2,540
502W
District Health Authorities £ North Lincolnshire 345 South Lincolnshire 2,410 Bassetlaw 1,135 Central Nottinghamshire — Nottingham 1,055 Barnsley 56 Doncaster 43 Rotherham 156 Sheffield 4,521 East Anglian Region Cambridge 30,285 Peterborough — West Suffolk 13 East Suffolk 1,226 Norwich 2,198 Great Yarmouth and Waveney — West Norfolk and Wisbech — Huntingdon 712 North West Thames Region North Bedfordshire 22 South Bedfordshire 1,093 North Hertfordshire — East Hertfordshire — North West Hertfordshire 766 South West Hertfordshire 809 Barnet 3,979 Harrow 2,228 Hillingdon 390 Hounslow and Spelthorne 5,476 Ealing 1,127 Brent — Paddington and North Kensington 36,664 Hammersmith and Fulham 9,502 Victoria 28,989 North East Thames Region Basildon and Thurrock 1,394 Mid Essex 4 North East Essex 10,782 West Essex 30 Southend 861 Barking, Havering and Brentwood — Hampstead 952 Bloomsbury 4,601 Islington 2,285 City and Hackney 15,986 Newham 3,675 Tower Hamlets 1,708 Enfield 378 Haringey 2,688 Redbridge — Waltham Forest — South East Thames Region Brighton 2,212 Eastbourne 205 Hastings 519 South East Kent 467 Canterbury and Thanet 761 Dartford and Gravesham 582 Maidstone 19 Medway — Tunbridge Wells 1,081 Bexley 729 Greenwich 108 Bromley — West Lambeth 14,589 Camberwell 154 Lewisham and North Southwark 54 South West Thames Region North West Surrey — West Surrey/North East Hampshire — South West Surrey — Mid Surrey 782
503W
District Health Authorities £ East Surrey — Chichester — Mid Downs 621 Worthing 2,256 Croydon 299 Kingston and Esher — Richmond, Twickenham and Roehampton — Wandsworth 12,984 Merton and Sutton 10,315 Wessex Region East Dorset 1,187 West Dorset — Portsmouth and South East Hampshire 3,935 Southampton and South West Hampshire 2,033 Winchester 85 Basingstoke and North Hampshire 378 Salisbury — Swindon — Bath 294 Isle of Wight — Oxford Region East Berkshire — West Berkshire — Aylesbury Vale — Wycombe 327 Milton Keynes — Kettering — Northampton — Oxford — South Western Region Bristol and Weston 68 Frenchay — Southmead — Cornwall and Isles of Scilly — Exeter — North Devon — Plymouth — Torbay — Cheltenham 15 Gloucester 7,029 Somerset 1,561 West Midlands Region Bromsgrove and Redditch — Hereford 156 Kidderminster 355 Worcester 1,322 Shropshire — Mid-Staffordshire — North Staffordshire — South East Staffordshire — Rugby 1,424 North Warwickshire 859 South Warwickshire 356 Central Birmingham 2,667 East Birmingham 363 North Birmingham — South Birmingham — West Birmingham 4,523 Coventry 623 Dudley — Sandwell 3,290 Solihull 4,154 Walsall 1,110 Wolverhampton 1,857 Mersey Region Chester 403 Crewe 796 Halton — Macclesfield — Warrington 859 Liverpool 2,773 St. Helens and Knowsley 376
District Health Authorities £ Southport and Formby 4 South Sefton 16,083 Wiiral 2,909 North Western Region Lancaster 319 Blackpool, Wyre and Fylde 3,379 Preston — Blackburn, Hyndburn and Ribble Valley 1,869 Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale 1,153 West Lancashire — Chorley and South Ribble 69 Bolton 1,595 Bury 1,142 North Manchester — Central Manchester 825 South Manchester 3,360 Oldham — Rochdale — Salford — Stockport — Tameside and Glossop 378 Trafford — Wigan — Special Health Authorities and Boards of Governors (London Teaching Hospitals) Hospitals for Sick Children 5,676 National Hospitals for Nervous Diseases 24 Moorfields Eye Hospital — Bethlem Royal and Maudsley — National Heart and Chest Hospitals 1,910 Royal Marsden 21,331 Hammersmith 479 Queen Charlottes 649 Eastman Dental —