Health bosses used taxpayer-funded credit cards to pay for helicopter lessons, go-karting and five-star hotels.
Despite the NHS facing an unprecedented funding crisis, officials have been using the cards to splurge money on luxuries, bars and restaurants.
They have racked up £5.8million worth of spending in the past two years alone. The ‘government procurement cards’ were introduced by Labour in 1997, supposedly to enable senior staff to easily fund office supplies and travel costs.
But a Daily Mail investigation found senior officials in the largest health bodies have been using them in Wetherspoon’s pubs, cocktail bars, bowling alleys and McDonalds.
One chief executive used his card to pay for a private helicopter lesson in the Cotswolds. Keith Conradi, head of the Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch, claimed the £562 training day was a necessary part of his job. He has now been ordered to pay the money back.
The Mail’s audit also found:
- Public Health England staff racked up a £310 bill for a ‘smoothie bike’ using pedal-power to blend fruit;
- They used the cards to stay at the Altishotel in Lisbon and the Intercontinental Hotel in Beijing;
- At the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, the cards were spent in KFC, Starbucks, kebab joints, all-you-can-eat Chinese buffets and pubs;
- MHRA employees also used them to buy 253 meals at McDonald’s splashing a total of £1,433 on the fast food.
The cards were issued to senior staff in the health organisations as a convenient replacement for invoices. They were meant to ensure payments were made more promptly for low-cost items such as stationery and computer equipment.
But there is growing evidence they are abused and spent on personal items and frivolities rather than office necessities.
The Mail used the Freedom of Information Act to ask 11 of the largest health bodies and watchdogs for details of their expenses on the cards.
More than £25,000 was spent on taxis over two years by senior NHS staff, including on Uber and Addison Lee
Between them they had issued cards to 692 staff and spent at least £5.8million in the two years since March 2016, although the figure could be higher as some organisations refused to provide all their bills.
The responses show the cards were routinely used to buy groceries, with £24,500 spent in Marks and Spencer, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Waitrose, Asda and Morrisons.
Another £25,100 was used on taxis, of which £17,100 was billed by Public Health England, which advises people on a healthy lifestyle.
Nearly £25,000 was spent in supermarkets including Waitrose, Tesco, Marks&Spencer, Asda, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons
At NHS Blood and Transplant, which oversees organ donations, the cards were used to fund a trip to the Eddie Irving go-karting centre in Belfast, for ‘teambuilding’. Staff also went on six bowling trips and to a cocktail bar in Bristol.
Meanwhile, the NHS is facing its worst funding difficulties in its 70-year history.
The British Medical Association is today releasing a study warning that the NHS is likely to see the ‘winter crisis’ extend into the summer. The BMA believes levels of demand and activity this summer will mirror winters of two or three years ago.
Health service staff spent taxpayers money in Starbucks, KFC, Domino’s and McDonalds
The health service came under huge pressure this winter, with A&E attendance, waiting times and admissions reaching alarming levels in England. Patients are being denied hip replacements and cataract surgeries and GPs have been told to stop handing out common prescription drugs.
Last night, the Mail’s findings sparked anger, with critics saying money had been ‘squandered’. Mark Littlewood, of the Institute of Economic Affairs think-tank, said: ‘Not only is it outrageous that hard-earned taxpayers’ money is being frivolously squandered on stays at plush resorts and pricey restaurants, these revelations smack of brazen hypocrisy.
‘The financial constraints of the NHS is made all the more depressing when we see how carelessly the money is being spent. It’s high time these quangos were held to account.’
One health boss spent more than £500 on helicopter lessons (file photo)
Alex Wild, of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: ‘Procurement cards are supposed to be used as a cost-effective means of buying low-value goods and services, but time and time again they’re used as a quick and easy way to rip off taxpayers for life’s luxuries. It’s not credible for NHS bosses to be pleading poverty … while billing taxpayers for stays at some of the world’s most luxurious resorts.’
The Mail discovered staff at PHE – responsible for tackling obesity – spent the cards on Domino’s Pizza, a steakhouse and a bakery specialising in pies and cakes.
At the same time its officials were lecturing the public to cut back on these foods – and on smoothies – to avoid getting fat.
Staff spent tax-payer money at the five-star Intercontinental hotel in Beijing
A spokesman claimed staff purchased only sandwiches and fruit at the bakery to serve as meeting ‘refreshments’. The organisation also used the cards to fund trips to Cuba, California, Florida, and Bangkok in Thailand to attend a physical activity conference.
NHS England, responsible for day-to-day running of the health service, issues the cards to only a handful of staff. But the MHRA gave them to 266 workers and allowed them to pay for meals, snacks and their laundry if they travelled or worked long hours.
Health Education England, the workforce body, redacted three quarters of its card bills. It refused to explain why staff had spent almost £1,000 at an unnamed restaurant – the cost of a sight-restoring cataract operation.
Staff also stayed at the five-star Altis hotel in Lisbon, to attend a ‘drug related infectious disease’ meeting
Among the bills they did disclose was almost £560 for a high-end Scottish restaurant and £42 on theatre tickets in Leeds.
Other bodies which responded to the requests were the Department of Health, Nice, the Care Quality Commission, NHS Improvement, and the Human Fertility and Embryology Authority. A Department of Health spokesman said: ‘We have already taken steps to ensure money spent on helicopter training has been recouped and will take further action if needed to make sure card holders are crystal clear on the rules.’
PHE chief Duncan Selbie said: ‘Expenses for scientific research, sharing expertise and learning from global best practice are necessary for [employees’] work.’
An MRHA spokesman said staff could claim a ‘small reimbursement’ when away from home.
Patient safety chief insisted the £562 taxpayer-billed helicopter lesson in the Cotswolds was crucial for his job
The head of a flagship patient safety unit billed taxpayers for helicopter lessons – and insisted they were part of his job.
Keith Conradi flew a lightweight helicopter over the Cotswold Hills for a day in January last year at a cost of £562.
The training enabled him to retain his private helicopter licence which he claimed was necessary for his NHS role.
Mr Conradi earns £142,000 a year as chief investigator at the Healthcare Safety Investigations Branch (HSIB), which is tasked with investigating the most serious medical errors so the NHS can learn lessons and prevent them happening again.
Keith Conradi, chief investigator of the NHS’ Healthcare Safety Investigations Branch, flew a lightweight helicopter over the Cotswold Hills for a day in January last year at a cost of £562
The body became operational amid much fanfare in April 2017. However, it had begun preparatory work months earlier and Mr Conradi was appointed to his role in 2016.
He was chosen by Jeremy Hunt on the basis of his experience as a pilot and an airline investigator. The Health and Social Care Secretary wants the NHS to learn lessons from the airline industry, which is renowned for its safety record and rigorous investigations.
Mr Conradi, 56, argued that this entitled him to bill the taxpayer for retaining his private helicopter licence. Incidentally, he already holds an airline transport licence.
He also used his government procurement card to pay for a full pilot’s medical examination at Gatwick Airport in February 2017, at a cost of £234.
Following the Daily Mail’s inquiries, however, Mr Conradi was ordered to pay the money back by the health service’s financial watchdog, NHS Improvement. A spokesman for the HSIB said the reimbursement were ‘in process’. Officials at NHS Improvement and the Department of Health were understood to have been furious that he had used taxpayers’ money for the helicopter lessons.
Mr Conradi – a former Virgin Atlantic pilot – previously worked as a chief inspector at the Air Accidents Investigations Branch.
He lives with his wife Katherine in Wrecclesham, near Farnham, Surrey.
In a statement, he said: ‘I am proud to be at the forefront of the first organisation in the world to be creating a pioneering safety investigation methodology for the NHS that matches that of the air industry.
‘This will save lives and reduce patient harm in future years because HSIB learning and patient safety recommendations will be widely shared across NHS service providers in England.’