A HOSPITAL trust spent more than £1million on taxis in the last six years, NHS data has revealed.

Data obtained via the Freedom of Information Act has shown the East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust (ESNEFT), which runs both Ipswich and Colchester hospitals, spent £1,262,885.23 on taxis between 2018/19 and 2023/24. 

The most expensive year for taxi journeys at ESNEFT since 2018 was 2023/24, where £289,454.91 was forked out. 

From the start of October 2018 to the end of May 2024, a total of 20,387 taxi journeys were paid for by ESNEFT.

The trust said in some cases taxis needed to be called for staff who had attended blue light incidents and needed to return to base. 

The trust said only patients who needed a taxi would get one for transport. 

Mike Meers, director of digital and logistics at East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust, said: "The decision for our services to use a taxi has to meet strict criteria. The operational teams who run our hospitals review and agree all requests.

"We may choose to use a taxi service for various reasons. These include transporting equipment, for patients and for staff.

"We do not routinely book taxis for staff. But some colleagues attending blue light calls in their line of work need to be brought back to their hospital base, or they may need transporting between sites for operational reasons.

"We also don't provide taxis for patients who don't need them. We always follow eligibility criteria for transport unless there's an extreme reason not to, or it's in the patient's best interest, for example to get them home quicker."