§ Mr. HobanTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the charging arrangement between his Department and(a) the Department of Health and (b) NHS acute trusts for the treatment of armed forces personnel. [117884]
§ Mr. Caplin[holding answer 9 June 2003]: The Ministry of Defence has Service Level Agreements (SLAs) with the NHS Hospital Trusts which host the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine and the MOD Hospital Units (MDHUs). In accordance with each SLA, the host Trust pays MOD a proportion of the costs of military clinical personnel working within the Trust, and the MOD pays for the treatment of Service personnel by the Trust. The SLAs include financial incentives for the host Trust to meet waiting time targets set by my Department. A pilot scheme for fast-tracking orthopaedic cases is currently being run at MDHU Northallerton under the provisions of the SLA but at additional cost.
Separate charging arrangements apply in respect of the Ministry of Defence's reimbursement of costs incurred by the Department of Health in support of Operation TELIC.