Labour attacks NHS over £4m for hospitality

THE NHS in Scotland has spent almost £4 million on hospitality for staff and visitors over the last three years, according to figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.

The amount of taxpayers' cash spent on hospitality has increased by almost a quarter (23.8 per cent), leading to Labour expressing concern about the amount of money being spent on entertaining during the economic crisis.

The size of Scottish NHS boards' hospitality budgets came to light in answers to a series of FoI requests submitted by Labour.

Ten of Scotland's 14 NHS boards responded to the requests, which revealed that hospitality rose from 1,076,044 in 2007/08 to 1,332,501 in 2009/10. The total for 2008/09 was 1,259,344.

Richard Simpson, Labour's health spokesman, said that the yearly spend on hospitality could pay for salaries and employment costs of 50 nurses, who typically receive starting salaries of 21,176.

The highest spenders were NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde, which had a hospitality bill of 329,000 last year. Glasgow was followed by NHS Tayside on 317,805 and NHS Fife, which spent 269,824.

"I am astonished that Scottish health boards have spent nearly 4m over the last three years on hospitality," Simpson, a former GP, said.

"I want to see the NHS using its resources to employ nurses and midwives, rather than entertaining people. As a result of the SNP's budget cuts, the NHS is planning to cut 4,000 jobs this year, including over 1,500 nurses. You can't take this number of staff out of our hospitals without having a real impact on patient care.

"The money that is currently being spent on hospitality should be going on the front line. It could pay the annual salary and staff costs of 50 nurses. I am sure most people would agree that this would be a far better use of resources."

NHS Highland, NHS Dumfries and Galloway, NHS Lothian and NHS Ayrshire and Arran declined to disclose how much was spent on hospitality.

NHS Highland said providing the information would be "time-consuming and expensive". NHS Dumfries and Galloway said it had not spent any money entertaining third parties in the period under discussion.

NHS Lothian said it was unable to provide hospitality costs, because they were not treated separately from the general catering budget.NHS Ayrshire and Arran said providing the information would need a member of staff of go through hundreds of invoices.

A spokesman for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said the hospitality referred to in their answer to the FOI request was the "costs of providing basic catering such as tea and coffee, orange juice, sandwiches and fruit to staff and members of the public.

The spokesman added: "Other areas of expenditure on such catering include hosting the public at consultation and engagement events of which NHSGGC has been heavily engaged during 2009/10.

"It should be made absolutely clear the NHSGGC does not engage in entertaining external contractors or staff. Our staff are keenly aware of their responsibilities in accounting for the expenditure of public funds and there is no culture within our organisation of 'hospitality' in the way that it is traditionally provided in other sectors."

A Scottish government spokesman said: "Health board spending on hospitality has remained broadly similar prior to 2007 and represents a tiny fraction - around 0.01 per cent - of NHS Scotland's total budget of more than 11 billion in 2009/2010.

"Health boards must ensure they get best possible value for money for every pound they spend. Hospitality is typically limited to providing tea, coffee and sandwiches for lunch or evening meetings or at events where members of the public and health board volunteers are present."