§ Mr. BoswellTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patient stays in the last three years in NHS hospitals were subject to recovery of costs because the individual concerned had been involved in a motor accident; and how much revenue arose(a) by entitlement to recovery and (b) by actual repayment. [32462]
§ Ms Blears[holding answer 4 February 2002]: Since April 1999 the recovery of national health service charges following road traffic accidents has been undertaken centrally by the Compensation Recovery Unit (CRU) on behalf of the Secretary of State for Health. Charges are recoverable where a road traffic accident victim is treated at a NHS hospital and subsequently makes a successful claim for personal injury compensation. The CRU collects charges from insurers and pays them direct to NHS trusts when the compensation claim settles. CRU is responsible only for recovery on claims that settle on or after 5 April 1999.
The amount of income potentially owing to NHS trusts in England for patient stays since 5 April 1999 is £71.7 million and the total amount paid to NHS trusts is £74.9 million. These figures do not represent the full amounts potentially owing or paid to NHS trusts as they relate only to patient stays since 5 April 1999. Although the CRU can only recover costs where a personal injury compensation payment settles on or after 5 April 1999, there are a large number of cases where the accident and patient's hospital treatment will have occurred before this date.
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