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THE HSE SPENT almost €200 million on taxis and private ambulance services over a five-year period – with almost €2 million being spent on taxis for HSE staff in just two years.
Some €190.3 million was spent on taxis and private ambulance services between 2005 and 2010, with €164.36 million going on patient taxis and €24.1 million going on private ambulances, reports Medical Independent. The HSE could not provide the cost of staff taxis between the years 2005 to 2007; however between 2008 and 2010 €1.86 million was spent on taxis for HSE staff.
The HSE said that “staff taxi” cases can include incidents when staff accompanied a patient or a client to an appointment. The HSE defended its use of taxis by saying: “The use of taxis for patient transport represents a more cost-effective solution when compared to investment in a fleet of HSE-owned vehicles for this purpose. Additional costs relating to this would include the provision of 24/7 staffing, maintenance, fuel, insurance and tax.”
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I’ll probably get a lot of red thumbs down for this, but technically it’s not all bad. After all, money spend by government organization on taxis goes straight back into economy…
There’s no better way if getting a patient from one facility to another than taxis, really. From a HSE rehab hospital or nursing home into a general hospital for tests, or from an A&E to a mental health facility… These needs are frequent but irregular and unpredictable, hence taxis.
There’s a woman who lives near me in Limerick who had a mental incident up in Galway one day after getting the bus up. She had her dog with her,so when she got committed the HSE paid for a taxi for her dog back to Limerick! I don’t know if he left a tip.
wow. The same HSE who decided to pull the 250K that was keeping the Rape Crisis Network offices going can blow 200 millions on inefficient means of transport. Can they just make random, senseless decisions without any accountability? oh wait, yes they can.
Because you’re lucky to live in a country where if things went badly for you and you were both poor and unwell, the state would pay for your treatment, that’s why.
An obscene amount of money… The HSE have no problem paying for private ambulances but when it comes to organising care for a 14 yr old girl who needs a liver transplant it needs to be “approved”. The HSE couldn’t organise a piss up in a Brewrey…
(Skip the first 8 pages of where John McGuinness says it will not be “business as usual” and pretends Fianna Fáil weren’t in office and all that typeastuff.)
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