Camden New Journal - News: Millions owed to hospitals from overseas

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Camden New Journal - by ROISIN GADELRAB
Published: 23 August 2007

The Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead

Millions owed to hospitals from overseas

FOREIGN embassies, private and overseas patients have run up millions of pounds in unpaid NHS bills at hospitals in Camden and Islington.
The Royal Free has £4.5 million of outstanding debt from private and overseas patients.
Figures released yesterday (Wednesday) show that one patient alone owes the Hampstead hospital £104,000.
In addition, over the last five years UCLH, The Royal Free and The Whittington have written off more than £2 million of outstanding debts from private and overseas patients.
The staff of embassies – including Kuwait and Qatar – owe more than £1 million to the Royal Free and UCLH. The Cypriot embassy has run up the biggest bill, owing half a million. Both hospitals stress the majority of this debt is less than 90 days old and is expected to be paid.
Last year UCLH spent £19,242 on debt recovery agencies, which are paid a percentage of any recovered debts and are only employed once the hospital’s own efforts have failed.
Neil Woodnick, chairman of Camden PCT Patient and Public Involvement Forum said he was concerned about the level of credit hospitals are extending to patients, including embassies.
He said: “Now UCLH is a Foundation Trust and in the near future the Royal Free and Whittington become Foundation Trusts, these losses have to be made up somehow. I just hope it doesn’t impact on NHS patients.”
All three hospitals said their audit committees are responsible for approving any write-offs.
A Royal Free spokeswoman said: “Debt will be considered for writing off if it is uneconomic to pursue, or if the patient is known to have no remaining funds. £1.1m of the £3.6m outstanding debt from private patients was from embassies.”
A spokeswoman for the Whittington said: “Debt is chased by the income services section and if no response, passed on to our debt collectors. Overseas visitors get referred to debt collectors immediately. Debt is put forward for write-off when is becomes uneconomic to chase (small amounts) or our debt collectors cannot locate the patient.”
A UCLH spokesman said “The responsibility for chasing up private and overseas debt resides with the credit control team. The trust does make use of debt recovery agencies, which we use when we have exhausted our in-house resources.”

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