HSE spends €2,600 weekly on hospital staff taxis

The HSE is spending over €2,600 per week on taxis ferrying staff between two hospitals in Limerick city.

Figures show it spent €137,730 last year on taxis moving staff between the regional hospital and the maternity hospital.

The hospitals lie 6km apart on opposite sides of the River Shannon.

The HSE planned to relocate the maternity hospital to the grounds of the Mid-Western Regional Hospital, but the move has yet to be realised.

The cost accounts for 61% of the HSE’s taxi bill of €223,938 for staff in the HSE West area.

Overall, HSE West, which stretches from Donegal to Limerick. spent €4.5m on taxis, with €4.28m spent on taxis for patients.

Commenting on the spend for staff taxis in Limerick, Cllr Padraig Conneely said yesterday: “The HSE must explain who is taking these taxis and why.

“The spend is huge. There must be an awful lot of staff grabbing taxis in Limerick; I would ask it is necessary?”

Mr Conneely, chairman of the HSE West Forum, said: “This wouldn’t happen in the private sector and I believe this forms part of work practices that should not be there. It needs to be reviewed by the HSE.”

Cllr Brian Meaney said: “The cost of providing taxies for staff in Limerick can be described in one word — outlandish.”

The HSE also spent €1m in the Mid-West last year transferring patients for kidney dialysis treatment.