§ Mr. HinchliffeTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) what proportion of bills for the use of private beds or private facilities in the National Health Service have remained unpaid for each year since 1979, (costings);
(2) what was the figure in (a) cash terms and (b) as a percentage of the total, of unpaid bills tendered by health authorities in respect of private beds and the private use of National Health Service facilities, for each year since 1979.
§ Mr. NewtonInformation derivable from the summarised accounts of health authorities in England for the financial years 1985–86 and 1986–87 (the latest available) is shown in the table. I regret that comparable information for earlier years is not held centrally.
1985–86 1986–87 Amounts Written-Off for bad debts and claims abandoned—Private Patients £641,001 £810,219 As a Proportion of Total Gross Income from Private Patients' Percentage 1.0 1.4 Source:
Annual accounts of regional and district health authorities together with those of the special health authorities for the London postgraduate teaching hospitals.
Notes:
1. The figures relate to services provided for private in-patients and private out-patients under sections 65 and 66 of the NHS Act 1977 respectively. Separate write-off figures for income due under section 58 (which arises mainly from services provided to private health care establishments) are not collected centrally.
2. Sums written-off in each financial year include amounts due from earlier years which are not separately identifiable. The totals written-off in each year are offset against the relevant income headings by health authorities to produce the next income figures recorded in their annual accounts.