British health law enables the government to recover the cost of treatment people receive through the NHS when they receive personal injury compensation, such as following motor vehicle accidents or in workplace accidents. The NHS Injury Cost Recovery Scheme, which became health law on January 29^th 2007, replaced the previously-existing Road Traffic Act scheme, which only paid out in road traffic accidents in which personal injury compensation is received by the victim, and allows the NHS to recover the expense of caring and treating injured people in all instances in which the patient receives personal injury compensation.

Primarily, funds for the scheme are recovered from insurers by the Compensation Recovery Unit. This money is then given to the NHS ambulance trust or hospital that provided the patient’s treatment.

How much has the NHS Injury Costs Recovery scheme recovered this year?

On December 4^th, the Department of Health released information on the amount of money the NHS Injury Costs Recovery scheme has received from insurers and paid to the NHS over November 2013.

In England, this scheme recovered £15,048,450 over the month, while in Scotland it recovered £1,180,595 and in Wales it recovered £1,203,410. Furthermore, Ambulance Trusts received a total of £842,411 over the month. This adds up to a total of £18,274,866.

In October 2013, the scheme recovered the highest amount of money it has done so far this financial year, receiving a total of £21,602,736. April 2013 saw the scheme recovering just £17,326,900.

From 1^st April 2012 to 31^st March 2013, the NHS Injury Costs Recovery Scheme’s Compensation Recovery Unit recovered a total of £219,885,813. Overall, £183,493,949 of this related to personal injuries sustained in England, £13,922,866 of it came from Scotland, and £12,210,074 came from Wales. Ambulance Trust claims also accounted for £10,258,924 in total.

Tariff uplift from April 2013

On April 1^st 2013, the charge ceiling and tariff this scheme can recover was increased. The increase only applied to injuries that people sustained on or after this date in which personal injury claims were made.

This charge increase reflected the inflation levels of 2.0% seen in the Hospital and Community Health Services sector for 2012 to 2013.

Ambulance services for people who claimed personal injury compensation saw insurers’ charges increase from £185 to £189, their charges for NHS treatment not requiring hospital admission rose from £615 to £627, and the charge for in-patient treatment rose from £755 to £770 for every day of treatment.

Furthermore, the maximum charges insurance companies could face from the NHS Injury Costs Recovery Scheme when the NHS handles injuries they are liable for in personal injury compensation claims rose to £46,046, from its previous figure of £45,153. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damages#Quantification_of_personal_injury_claims

The tariffs and maximum charges this scheme can recover are likely to be re-evaluated near to the end of this financial year on 31^st March 2014.

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Hellen works with civil litigation solicitors burnley can help you receive professional legal services. We have years of experience in the fields of whiplash injury compensation, crime, immigration and Personal Injury.