FOI Request: NHS Charging of Overseas Visitors
To whom it may concern,
I am writing to request information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, relating to the trusts implementation of the ‘NHS (Charges to Overseas Visitors) Regulations 2015, as amended by the NHS (Charges to Overseas Visitors) (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020’, hereafter referred to as ‘the charging policy’.
The following requests relate to the expenditure and income generated from the 'charging policy', excluding any generated through private paying patients or monies claimed back from countries as part of any reciprocal healthcare arrangement.
>>> [QUESTION 1] <<<
As per the trusts application of the 'charging policy' for each financial year from 2015-2023 please provide (i) the total number of and (ii) the total value of:
(1a)
Invoices generated
(1b)
Payments received
(1c)
Credit notes issued after a patient has been invoiced for care and later found to be eligible for free treatment
(1d)
Invoices written off for accounting purposes due to a patient being considered destitute as per the conditions set out in 13.72 and 13.73 of the charging policy.
(1e)
Debts passed onto debt collection agencies for recovery due to non-payment.
For each of the above requests from 1a to 1e inclusive, please provide a breakdown by speciality, department, or similar categorisation (see appendix 1 for example formatting).
>>> [QUESTION 2] <<<
Please provide a breakdown by speciality, department, or similar categorisation of (i) the number of patients currently on a repayment plan with the trust for debt incurred under the charging policy and (ii) a breakdown by value of repayment - For example, the number of patients paying £1/month, £5/month, £10/month, etc. (see appendix 1 for example formatting).
(2a)
Please also provide the number of patients who entered a new payment plan with the trust, for each financial year from 2015-2023.
>>> [QUESTION 3] <<<
Please share any formal or informal criteria, policies, procedures, or similar the trust currently uses or has used from 2015 - 2023 to determine how:
(a) A patient's debt is managed
(b)The trust agrees upon the value of a patient's monthly repayment plan.
>>> [QUESTION 4] <<<
For each financial year from 2015-2023, please provide the total number of patients whose information has been shared with the Home Office in relation to a debt:
(a) Greater than £500 owed for more than 2 months
(b) Greater than £500 owed for less than 2 months
(c) Less than £500
For ease of work, I have attached an example formatting aid to assist data tabulation in the following link, which may be of use to your team.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1...
If my request is denied in whole or in part, I ask that you justify all deletions by reference to specific exemptions within the Act. I thank you in advance for your time and assistance and I look forward to hearing from you within the statutory 20 working days.
Yours faithfully,
Mr. V Saini
APPENDIX 1:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1...
Dear Mr Saini
Thank you for your request for information under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000. Under the Act we have 20 working days to respond to
a request, therefore we will aim to provide you with our response by 14
June 2023. However, please be advised that our resources have been
diverted to support our front-line colleagues who are working tremendously
hard to provide care for our patients, and to those in need of our
services. As you can hopefully understand, this is resulting in delays
responding to information requests. We apologise for any inconvenience
this may cause, we do remain committed to responding to your request and
will respond as soon as we are able.
Should our response to your request breach the statutory timeframe and you
remain unhappy with our response you have the right to complain to the
Information Commissioners Office. The Information Commissioner’s offices
can be contacted at [1]https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/
Should you need to contact us in the meantime, please quote reference
number 2023.061.
Kind regards
Freedom of Information Team
Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust
The Oast, Hermitage Court
Hermitage Lane, Maidstone
Kent, ME16 9NT
01622 211900
In accordance with GDPR Art. 6(1)(c) processing of your data by Kent
Community Health NHS Foundation Trust is necessary for compliance with its
legal obligation under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to respond to
you. Please refer to the “access to information” section available on our
website: [2]https://www.kentcht.nhs.uk/about-us/acce...
Dear Mr Saini
With regard to your request for information via the Freedom of Information
Act 2000, please find attached our response.
Kind regards
FOI Team
Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust
The Oast, Hermitage Court
Hermitage Lane, Maidstone
Kent, ME16 9NT
01622 211900
In accordance with GDPR Art. 6(1)(c) processing of your data by Kent
Community Health NHS Foundation Trust is necessary for compliance with its
legal obligation under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to respond to
you. Please refer to the “access to information” section available on our
website: [1]https://www.kentcht.nhs.uk/about-us/acce...
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