£6m taxi bill for health trusts
The 19 health trusts throughout the Six Counties have run up nearly £6m on private taxis fares in the past four years.
The huge bill has been run up by trusts using private taxi forms to ferry passengers to and from hospitals.
Almost a sixth of the total was spent by the Down and Lisburn Trust, which alone accounted for almost £1 million.
In a statement criticising the practice, Sinn Féin's spokesperson on health, Sue Ramsey, pointed out that across the North health trusts have been using money that should have been used for front line services.
``Given the recent figures released regarding Chief Executive pay and perks, there would also be concerns that senior health service administrators are draining resources destined to facilitate staff or patient transport,'' said Ramsey. ``Undoubtedly, some expenditure, notably for young people, is an important part of front line support services but many will be concerned that taxi services are costing the Health Service a great deal of money.''
![[An Phoblacht]](http://republican-news.org/graphics/title_gifs/aprn.gif)