§ Mr. Formanasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will introduce arrangements to enable district health authorities to be fully recompensed without delay for patients whom they treat from outside their areas; and if he will take steps to ensure that these transactions are made on the basis of the average cost per patient.
§ Mr. NewtonThe calculation of regional health authorities' target shares of the available resources already takes account of patients flows from other areas, costed at national average specialty cost per case. These calculations in turn influence allocations year by year. Regions follow the same approach in allocating resources to their districts, but are free to adapt the formula to reflect local circumstances.
Health authorities are also free to reach formal agreements in cases where one provides an agreed level of service to another's patients at an agreed cost and with direct transfer of funds. The National Health Service management board's report on resource allocation recommends further experiments of this sort and my right hon. Friend accepts this recommendation.
Special funding arrangements exist at national or regional level for the most complex forms of treatment, provided in a small number of centres serving a wide population.