Medical files sent on €425 taxi trip

THE state’s health services watchdog has been using taxis to send documents and letters from Cork to Dublin at a cost of €425 per trip.

Figures show if the Health Information and Quality Authority used Irish Rail’s FasTrack service their delivery service would only cost €54.45 — including VAT. And next-day delivery by Nightline only costs about €32.91, a saving to the taxpayer of €392.09.

HIQA paid a Dublin taxi driver €526.79 — €101.79 more than his Cork counterpart to drive from their Dublin offices to Cork, according to a reply to a Freedom of Information request published in the latest issue of the Irish Medical Times.