The provisions now found in section 157 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 allowing hospitals to recoup the costs of treating road traffic accident victims pre-date the NHS, and apply equally to any non-NHS not-for-profit hospitals and, in the case of the Emergency Treatment Fee, to general practitioners. It is not the intention to deprive not-for-profit hospitals and GPs of this long-standing source of income and so the Act modifies the 1988 Act to exclude NHS hospitals (which will be covered by the new legislation) from its provisions, leaving the current arrangements on the statute book for the benefit of others. This means that the Emergency Treatment Fee, currently set at £21.30 per person requiring emergency treatment and payable by the driver of a car involved in the accident, will no longer be collected by NHS hospitals.
Commentary on Sections Section 18: Consequential amendments