§ Ms HarmanTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if(a) St. Thomas's hospital, (b) King's College hospital and (c) St. George's hospital, Tooting have a co-payment scheme for in vitro fertilisation treatment patients. [16737]
§ Ms HarmanTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if patients treated at the assisted conception unit at Chelsea and Westminster hospital are seen by NHS consultants in NHS time; [16740]
(2) what charge is made to patients at the assisted conception unit at Chelsea and Westminster hospital; and what it covers; [16741]
(3) if he will make a statement on the assisted conception unit at the Chelsea and Westminster hospital. [16780]
§ Mr. HoramThe assisted conception unit at Chelsea and Westminster hospital opened in November 1995. Since opening, it has provided 11 cycles of in vitro fertilisation treatment to national health service patients and eight cycles to private patients.
In 1996–97 the unit aims to undertake 600 cycles of IVF. At present, it has two contracts with health authorities to provide a total of 270 cycles to the NHS during 1996–97.
Both NHS and private patients are seen by consultants working under the terms of their contracts with the Chelsea and Westminster NHS trust.
At present private patients at the unit are charged £800 for each cycle of IVF treatment. Health authorities are charged an identical amount for NHS patients. This is projected to cover the trust's costs and deliver an appropriate return on capital during the first full year of operation—1996–97—and subsequently, if business plan projections are met.
§ Ms HarmanTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he has taken external legal advice about whether patients of the assisted conception unit at Chelsea and Westminster hospital are national health service patients or private patients. [16739]