§ Mr. Colemanasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what was the amount written off in each regional health authority in England due to defaulting on payments by private patients in National Health Service hospitals during the financial years 1977–78 and 1978–79, respectively; and on whose authority this was done.
§ Dr. VaughanAlthough each health authority, regional, area and board of governors, submits to the Department with its annual accounts a statement of losses analysed into broad categories, the figures relating to bad debts are not analysed in a way which enables amounts written off in respect of defaulting by private patients to be separately identified. The amounts written off for this reason in each region could be obtained only by addressing a special inquiry to every health authority and the cost of this inquiry would be disproportionate.
Authority to write off bad debts is delegated to health authorities, subject to a limit of £1,000 (£500 prior to June 1977) 570W for an individual case. Above that limit, the approval of the Department is required. The total of applications received in the Department in the financial years in question in respect of defaulting by private patients summarised by region (or by boards of governors) was as follows:
Region 1977–78 1978–79 £ £ Yorkshire 699 — North West Thames 2,686 12,875 North East Thames 4,520 1,973 South East Thames 3,166 7,995 South West Thames — 3,896 Oxford — 10,765 South-Western — 1,159 West Midlands 1,135 — Boards of governors 10,786 27,966