§ Dr. Evan HarrisTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if he will estimate the(a) gross income to the national health service provided by pay beds and (b) income net of the cost to NHS capacity of the provision of pay beds in each of the last five financial years for which figures are available; [30990]
(2) what recent estimate he has made of the extent to which the fee covers the cost of treatment in NHS hospital pay beds, with special reference to use of (a) NHS salaried staff and (b) other NHS facilities; [30991]
(3) how many pay beds there were in the national health service in each year since 1977; [30992]
(4) what percentage of beds in NHS hospitals are denoted as for private patients, broken down by (a) NHS trust (b) region and (c) for the whole of England. [30993]
§ Mr. HuttonThe Department does not hold information centrally on the number of pay beds in the national health service. Laing and Buisson, who publish reviews on the independent healthcare sector, estimate that as of mid-June 2001 there were approximately 3,000 pay beds in the NHS, around 1,400 of which were in dedicated private patient units (PPUs). The remaining 1,600 beds were in ordinary NHS wards.
There are no national estimates on the income and related costs of pay beds in the national health service. Each NHS trust is responsible for ensuring that the income received for pay beds covers the direct costs involved plus a contribution towards overheads.
Figures for gross and net income solely for pay beds is not collected centrally. The Department does collect gross income information under the headings of `non-NHS private patients' and `non-NHS other'. No information is available on a net basis. `Non-NHS patients' includes all income received and receivable for patient care services from private patients. `Non-NHS other' includes a number of sources such as prescription charges in trusts, Road Traffic Act income (1996–97 only), amenity bed charges, income from overseas patients which are not covered by reciprocal agreements and income from the capital hip care Centre (from 1998–99).
Totals of the gross income for these two categories for the last five financial years are shown in the table.
556W
£000 Year Non-NHS patients Non-NHS other 1996–97 235,733 153,384 1997–98 273,232 169,566 1998–99 290,840 216,677 1999–2000 304,826 224,187 2000–01 316,627 265,953 Source:
NHS Trust Summarisation Schedules 1996–97 to 2000–01.