Taxi bill to send NHS patients in Scotland to hospital ‘goes from £88 to £165,999 in five years’

The bill for sending patients to hospital by taxi is costing the ambulance service almost £166,000 a year, it has been revealed.

The Daily Record newspaper reported that costs have gone from £88 to £165,999 in the last five years.

A total of 6,961 patients were taken to A&E by taxi in the last three years.

The Scottish Ambulance Service says it only arranges taxis in cases where clinical intervention is not needed.

Pat McIlvogue, of the Unite trade union, told the newspaper: “This is an astonishing rise in costs associated with the transportation of patients to hospitals by taxis since the pandemic ended.

“To go from £88 to £165,999 in the space of five years is a damning reflection on the service management who are cutting corners in an attempt to cut costs.

“This is a symptom of chronic underinvestment in the Scottish Ambulance Service by the Scottish Government.”

A Scottish Ambulance Service spokesperson said: “We will always dispatch an ambulance for patients who require an ambulance intervention and/or monitoring en route to hospital.

“Since January 2024, use of taxis to convey patients to hospital accounted to 0.7% of all incidents managed by the Scottish Ambulance Service.

“Taxis are only arranged after clinical assessment either by clinicians in our integrated clinical hub or clinicians at scene who have identified that a patient requires transport for further assessment at hospital, minor injuries units, or to access specific pathways.

“These patients don’t require clinical intervention during their journey, so it is not necessary for an emergency ambulance to transport them to hospital.”

Scottish Conservative health spokesman, Dr Sandesh Gulhane, said: “It is appalling that anyone who dials 999 for an ambulance in their hour of need should be taken to hospital by a taxi rather than an ambulance – yet that is the reality for thousands of patients, due to SNP mismanagement.

“Our ambulance service is completely overwhelmed and the staggering increase in the costs of transporting patients to hospitals by taxi is a damning indictment of SNP cuts.

“Despite the best efforts of nurses and triage staff, we are seeing wholly unacceptable scenarios where cabbies without medical training are being thrust into a potentially life-or-death scenario. For them and patients alike it’s terrifying and dangerous.”