A STRUGGLING NHS hospital has been slammed for spending an “obscene” £58,000 jetting bosses to Las Vegas for a work trip.
Cash-strapped Princess Alexandra Hospital put up 14 staff in Sin City for the taxpayer-funded jaunt.
AlamyThe 14 staff members were booked to stay for five days at a £400-a-night hotel — with an outing on the casino strip included[/caption]
Chiefs claimed the three-day Oracle CloudWorld summit was vital to learn about healthcare tech.
But they were booked to stay for five days at a £400-a-night hotel — with an outing on the casino strip included. The venture, including flights, cost £58,476.
The event in September came despite the hospital in Harlow, Essex, suffering the fourth worst A&E waiting times in England, with half of patients waiting longer than four hours to be seen.
Chief information officer at the hospital Phil Holland, who was on the trip, said funding for it had not come from “frontline staffing, operational or healthcare budgets”.
One patient wrote: “Attempting to justify £58,000 on a trip is obscene, and quite frankly an insult.”
Tory MP Nigel Mills said: “This is a ridiculous waste of money.”
A NHS England spokesman said that taxpayers’ money should be spent wisely and “overseas trips should only happen where absolutely necessary”.
News of the trip came as 120 junior doctors at the hospital are believed to have taken part in the six-day BMA strike that is due to end today.