§ Mr. Rookerasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will list 332W for each regional health authority the number of law suits involved in 1976–77 which gave rise to the recovery of the debts incurred by pay bed patients listed in his Written Answer to the hon. Member for Birmingham, Perry Barr, Official Report, 2nd February 1978, c. 266.
§ Mr. Moyle,pursuant to his reply, [Official Report, 21st February 1978; Vol. 944, c. 599–600], gave the following information:
The number of law suits in 1976–77 which related to the recovery of private patients' charges were as follows:
Regional Health Authority No. of Law Suits Northern … … 7 Yorkshire … … 24 Trent … … 46 East Anglia … … 7 North-West Thames … … 13 North-East Thames … … 4 South-East Thames … … 7 South-West Thames … … 6 Wessex … … 13 Oxford … … 14 South-Western … … 23 West Midlands … … 15 Mersey … … 0 North-Western … … 78 These figures relate to recovery through the courts. There were in addition an unspecified number of cases where recovery was effected before the initiation of formal proceedings.