The UL Hospitals’ Group’s spend on taxis in recent years is being branded as ‘excessive’ by a former Mayor of Ennis.
It’s after figures obtained by Clare FM show the Group has spent over €8.7 on transporting patients via taxi to and from University Hospital Limerick since 2017.
The Group says that the expenditure relates to patients who are too unwell to drive or use public transport, while laboratory samples such as bloods are also transported via taxi on occasion.
They claim taxi use ‘represents a more cost effective solution’ than an investment in a fleet of HSE-owned vehicles for the purpose.
However, speaking with Clare FM’s Josh Prenderville, Ennis Independent Councillor and former Regional Health Forum West member Ann Norton feels a tender process needs to be set up.
