§ Mr. DismoreTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what assessment he has made of the cost of health care of accident victims other than road accidents in circumstances where the accident is likely to be covered by third party insurance; [20850]
(2) what assessment he has made of the cost of hospital health care of road accident victims since the recoupment scheme commenced; [20849]
(3) how much has been recovered from insurance companies in respect of repayment of health care costs of road accident victims in each year since the commencement of the recoupment scheme; [20847]
(5) what plans he has (a) to review the maximum charges recoverable from drivers in respect of road accident victims and (b) to extend the scheme to other types of accident; and if he will make a statement. [20851]
§ Ms BlearsFrom 5 April 1999 a new system of centralised collection of national health service charges following road traffic accidents was introduced. The system is administered by the Compensation Recovery Unit, (CRU) which is part of the Department for Work and Pensions, on behalf of the Department of Health.
In the first year of operation the CRU recovered and paid NHS trusts in England a total of £26.4 million. The following year (2000–01) ꀓ67 million was recovered for NHS trusts in England. The total amount collected from April to November 2002 is £58.9 million
624WThere has been no increase in the tariff or ceiling of charges since the scheme commenced nearly three years ago. However the Department is planning to increase the tariff in line with hospital and community health services (HCHS) inflation and increase the ceiling of charges early in the new year. This means that the charge for treatment without admission will rise from £354 to £402 and the daily rate charge for treatment with admission will rise from £435 to £494 per day. In addition the ceiling of charges will rise from £10,000 to £30,000.
Information on the total cost to the NHS of treating all road traffic accident victims, including those who do not subsequently receive personal injury compensation, is not held centrally.
In 1999 the Law Commission recommended that the NHS should have the right to recover its costs in all cases where a payment of personal injury compensation was made. The Department is considering the Law Commission's proposal and is currently assessing the cost of treating victims of accidents other than road traffic accidents that are likely to result in personal injury compensation and plans to publish these costs in a public consultation document in the new year.