PROPOSED RECOVERY OF CERTAIN NHS COSTS

The Department of Health has asked the Insurance and Pensions Authority to issue the following news item to general insurance entities regulated by the Authority.

Advance notice is hereby given that the Department of Health is proposing to seek to recover the costs of providing certain non-emergency NHS hospital and ambulance services to patients who subsequently receive a compensation payment in respect of the injury for which the services were provided.

It is intended that legislation will be brought forward, similar to that already in place in the UK, giving the Department powers to recover its costs in relation to, for example, claims associated with road traffic accident and accidents at work. The costs would be recovered from the compensator, usually an insurance company, and not from the patient receiving the treatment.

Approaches have been made to the UK Department of Work and Pensions Compensation Recovery Unit to see if they can act on behalf of the Department in relation to the administration of the scheme in the same way that they do for UK NHS Hospitals.

Any questions about the above proposals should be directed to the Department of Health Policy & Legislation Unit using the contact details below. A formal consultation exercise will be undertaken once the draft legislation has been prepared.