THE cash-strapped NHS trust running the West Cumberland Hospital spent nearly £600,000 on taxis in three years.

Since April 2013, bosses at the trust – which also runs Carlisle’s Cumberland Infirmary – have hired taxis on almost 13,000 occasions, spending an average of £3,750 every week.

The figures were released in response to a Freedom of Information request from the News & Star.

With the trust facing a predicted deficit of £49.5m, one union boss has called the taxi spending “excessive”, while one county MP has also questioned whether it is the best use of scarce resources.

But North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust has defended the practice, saying taxis are used when an ambulance is not appropriate and to transport clinical supplies and medical records in “urgent cases”.

Our investigation shows that the trust’s most common reasons for using taxis were to transport pathology samples, drugs and patients.

Of the 12,874 taxi trips in

the three years to April, 10,055 were to non-trust destinations.

Just over 2,800 trips were between the two hospitals run by the trust, which by the end of April had a £63m black hole in its finances.

The most expensive single journey was last year and cost £640.

Over the last three financial years, the amount spent on taxi journeys was £585,000.

Kevin Lucas, regional organiser with the public sector workers’ union, Unison, suggested it would make more sense for the trust to employ drivers to transport samples, drugs and patients.

“We understand that there are times when it is necessary for the trust to pay for taxis,” he said.

“But spending over half-a-million pounds in three years sounds excessive.

“Where there is a substantial and predictable need for patients, drugs and samples to be transported between sites, it would make more sense to employ NHS staff and use NHS vehicles to do this work, rather than to pay taxi fares.

“The Government have cut back the proportion of our country’s income that we spend on the health service.

“Our hospitals are under tremendous financial pressure and it is important that good spending decisions are made and that resources are not allowed to leak out of the NHS.”

Carlisle MP John Stevenson said: “I can understand the use of taxis to move patients around, as we live in the kind of area where often it would be inefficient to use ambulances.

“But you have to ask whether it’s an efficient use of resources.

“Would it not be cheaper perhaps to employ a couple of drivers with two cars, or perhaps use a courier service?

“The health service needs to be more innovative and this may be an example of where savings could be made.”

The trust’s interim executive director of finance, Mark Brearley, defended the practice.

He said: “Taxis are generally used to transport patients when an ambulance is not appropriate and to transport clinical supplies and patient records in urgent cases.

“We have a robust process in place to ensure we only use taxis when necessary and we regularly review usage.

“The recent centralisation of medical records is also likely to reduce expenditure on taxis in this area as more patient records are expected to be moved on scheduled transport.”

Many of the most expensive journeys came about as trust bosses battled to meet national waiting list targets.

The trust’s statement says patients being treated at other sites – which are not specified – were sent by taxi as as part of an effort to achieve “waiting list management and referral to treatment targets”.

In 2013, the two most expensive trips – costing £430 and £380 – were for two Workington patients treated elsewhere at the trust’s expense.

The third was for a patient from Egremont and cost £360.

The following year saw trust officials approve trips costing £640 and £600.

These were for two Silloth patients, while the third most expensive trip, costing £560, was for a Wigton patient.

During the last financial year, ending in April, the most expensive taxi trip cost £260. This was to transport unspecified drugs.