Unpaid bills mean L&D is owed millions

The figures, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, show that hundreds of invoices sent out by the hospital remain unpaid.

The hospital says that, on average, payment of invoices is made within 11 days.

But the information revealed by the Freedom of Information request shows invoices dating back as far as 2005, some for thousands of pounds, are yet to be paid.

Invoices up to the end of 2008 have been archived, and therefore details for individual invoices were not available.

But items post-January 2009, up until December 2011, show that the hospital is owed money by a range of individuals and organisations.

The unpaid invoices include a large number of overpayments to staff, totalling more than £75,000. The demands for the money to be paid back range from less than £100 up to a whopping £21,454.

Other common debtors are firms of solicitors who have obtained medical records from the hospital. The unpaid invoices range from £10 to £50 a time and number more than 100.

Thousands of pounds are owed in ‘overseas payments’, and thousands are also owed to the hospital by local authorities.

A spokesman for the hospital said most of the organisations that had failed to pay were within the NHS itself.

He said: “Each year the Luton and Dunstable Hospital issues over 7,000 invoices totalling over £200 million.

“On average payment is made to the hospital within 11 days.

“The L&D Hospital has robust processes in place to minimise the risk of failure to pay for services provided or monies owed.

“The majority of unpaid monies relate to services that the L&D Hospital has provided to other NHS organisations.

“Clearly in these cases there are no losses to the taxpayer since the payments are within the NHS.”

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