Hospitals spend more than £800,000 on taxis

The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust, which runs New Cross Hospital spent £35,000, while the University Hospitals of North Midlands, which oversees Stafford's County Hospital, paid out £266,000.

Critics said it was "an extraordinary amount of money to spend on taxis".

Taxis can hired by the NHS when there is a shortage of ambulances and other patient transport, as well as for moving equipment and blood.

Figures showed a total of £824,225.81 was spent by West Midlands hospitals on taxis - equivalent to £2,258 every day.

Some NHS trusts also have contracts with private taxi firms, including the Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust, which spent £35,000 in the last year on taxis and has an account with Brittania Taxis that will run until 2022.

The trust said it uses taxis to move equipment between sites and also in "emergency situations".

The University Hospitals of North Midlands Trust spent £266,343.81. Bosses said the total was a combination of uses for "patients, staff, urgent samples and letters".

The Liberal Democrats, which unearthed the figures following a Freedom of Information request, said the pressure on ambulance services means that the NHS is spending large amounts getting people to and from hospital.

Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham spent £257,000 and Heartlands, Good Hope and Solihull Hospital spent £190,000 in 2018.

Coventry & Warwickshire NHS Trust have spent £75,882 on taxis and have said that their 'contract will be going out to tender in the foreseeable future.'

Other hospital trusts in the Black Country did not respond to the request for information.

Liberal Democrat campaigner Nick Machnik-Foster said: “This is an extraordinary amount of money to be spent on taxis.

“This clearly demonstrates the failure of Government ministers to provide the resources needed by the patient transport service and the ambulance service to meet the needs of patients travelling to hospital appointments, or return home or to their place of care."

Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust spokeswoman Amy Downward said: "We use taxis when we occasionally need to urgently transfer items/equipment between our sites. We also use taxis for our staff for emergency situations and to transfer blood specimens.

"We work hard to minimise such spend and make sure the trust’s taxi contract is best value for money."

Lorraine Whitehead, director of estates at UHNM, said: “We treat more than two million patients a year so keeping the flow of patients moving through our hospital is crucial. The vast majority of our patients needing transportation are transported by patient transport ambulances. However, on rare occasions and in the patient’s best interest, we may need to use taxis. This is generally only required as a last resort.

“We have a contract in place with a taxi company to support the trust's existing transport services and may also be used to transport samples and correspondence. This contract went through a tender process to ensure we receive a service that is good value for money, without compromising quality and efficiency."