Scandal of NHS fatcats who spent pounds 110,000 to talk about the

0 Comments | Sunday Mirror, Mar 12, 2006 | by JAMES HARPER

NHS fatcats blew pounds 110,000 of taxpayers' cash on a five- star jaunt to discuss shutting down hospitals.

More than 500 NHS chiefs attended the two-day session at one of Glasgow's poshest conference venues.

And 136 stayed the night at the Hilton Hotel, even though some lived no further away than Lanarkshire.

Another 178 delegates stayed round the corner in four-star luxury hotels.

The conference was held to discuss the Scottish Executive's programme to speed up accident and emergency waiting times.

Part of the programme involves closing down A&E units and merging them with other hospitals.

Health chiefs insist the closures will mean more efficient treatment for patients, but campaigners say it will impact on care levels, create longer waiting times and cost lives.

Moves are under way to shut the A&E unit at Monklands Hospital in Lanarkshire and send patients 11 miles away to Wishaw General instead.

In Ayrshire, the A&E unit at Ayr General is to be closed and patients sent to Crosshouse Hospital in Kilmarnock.

And in Glasgow there has been a furious reaction to plans to axe the A&E at Stobhill Hospital.

NHS bosses have been ordered to make sure no one waits more than four hours for casualty treatment by December next year.

And concentrating Scotland's existing A&E units into fewer locations is a key part of the plan.

The conference, which was not publicised, was held in October last year in the conference centre at Hampden Park stadium.

Delegates attended from every health board in the country, plus Executive bosses based in Edinburgh.

The decision to hold the conference has only come to light now - thanks to NHS whistle-blowers.

A source said: "It really does beggar belief when money is so tight in the NHS that they spend all this money sitting round working out how to shut hospitals.

"And the fact that most of them stayed the night in swanky hotels just rubs salt into the wound."

So many rooms were booked at the Hilton that other regular customers were turned away.

An onlooker said: "It was unbelievable. The place was jumping with NHS managers all staying the night."

Fifteen of the delegates who stayed at the Hilton work for Lanarkshire Health Board -whose headquarters in Motherwell is just a 30-minute cab ride from Hampden.

A spokeswoman for the SNP said: "This is a blatant misuse of taxpayers' money. For any NHS health boards to be allowed to live it up while discussing the closure of hospitals proves where the Scottish Executive's priorities really lie." SSP spokeswoman Carolyn Leckie said: "It helps if you've got an agenda, which undoubtedly the Executive and senior civil service do regarding the health service, to get everyone on board with that agenda.

"Obviously, the way to do that is to butter these people up with posh hotels and everything that goes with it - which is unacceptable." Gordon Martin, of pressure group Lanarkshire Health United which is campaigning to keep Monklands A&E open, added: "This is hardly surprising. While they live the life of luxury there's attack after attack on the health service.

"These people are paying themselves telephone-figure salaries and attending lavish events costing hundreds of -thousands of pounds which is outrageous."An Executive spokeswoman confirmed the cost of the event, including hotels and food, was pounds 110,712 - pounds 410 per person. She said: "Large training events are expensive but they are vital if we are serious about improving patient services. As a direct result of this event NHS teams have implemented changes that have improved emergency access and reduced waits and delays."

An NHS Lanarkshire spokesman confirmed that consolidation of A&E units was part of the agenda for delegates at the conference.

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