Failing hospital that blew £58,000 on Las Vegas junket faces rap from NHS bosses
A FAILING hospital which blew £58,000 on a Las Vegas junket is facing a rap from NHS bosses.
We told yesterday how 14 staff were sent to Sin City for the taxpayer-funded US trip.
Officials at the Princess Alexandra Hospital — with a £13million black hole — said the four-day jaunt was to learn about a new IT system.
NHS bosses will probe the hospital in Harlow, Essex.
A spokesman said: “We will be speaking to the trust about the trip and to remind them of the need to ensure all visits are absolutely necessary, provide value for money to taxpayers and benefit our patients.”
Hospital staff jetted to the the four-day Oracle CloudWorld conference.
They stayed for five nights at the £400-a-night MGM New York-New York Hotel on Las Vegas Boulevard.
Including flights and meals, the outing cost £58,476.
Tory MP Nigel Mills demanded an “urgent enquiry” into how the trip came to be signed off.
He said: “This is a ridiculous waste of money.
“It’s hard to see how attending a conference of that kind in the UK would be of use.
“At a time when budgets are constrained, this is a terrible error of judgement and urgent enquiries are needed as to who signed this off and why.”
Phil Holland, chief information officer at The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust, said: “The conference was the only opportunity to see our new patient care record system in action with its developers and learn from other hospitals already using it.
“A team of 14 people joined to ensure that the system works for all of our expert areas and that we were able to learn from others to maximise the benefits for our patients.
“No frontline care budget was spent on the trip.
“We are making a significant investment in a new electronic health record to help improve our patient care, which will draw information from multiple systems.
“This will be one of the biggest transformation programmes our hospital has ever seen.”