§ Mr. Dobsonasked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will give for Northern Ireland and for each year since 1979 the income received from private patients in National Health Service hospitals (a) in gross terms, (b) revalued by the retail price index and (c) revalued by the National Health Service pay and prices index.
§ Mr. Chris PattenThe information requested is shown in the following table.
320W
Financial Year Private patient income Revalued to 1983–84 levels (retail prices index) Revalued to 1983–84 levels (NHS pay and prices) £ £ £ 1979–80 547,947 796,277 849.318 1980–81 465,387 581,315 563,584 1981–82 595,997 719,368 666,921 1982–83 806,833 843,705 847,981 1983–84 1,036,336 1,036,336 1,036,336
§ Mr. Dobsonasked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will give for each year since 1979 the total amount Northern Ireland health boards have written off as bad debts because of private patients not paying their bills.
§ Mr. Chris PattenThe information requested is shown in the following table:
Financial year (in which debt arose) Total amount of private patient bad debts written off £ 1979–80 1,360 1980–81 574 1981–82 383 1982–83 2,490 1983–84 363