WHSCT spent over £2m on private ambulances in seven years

Between 2017/18 and 2023/24, the local health authority spent £2,383,945 in total on private emergency vehicles with expenditure peaking in 2022/23 at over half a million pounds, the ‘Journal’ has learned.

Figures released by the Western Trust show the cost to the public purse of hiring privately doubled from £253,601 in 2017/18 to £513,466 in 2022/23.

Expenditure in each of the past seven years was as follows: £253,601 in 2017/18; £290,528 in 2018/19; £217,533 in 2019/20; £408,342 in 2020/21; £415,471 in 2021/22; £513,466 in 2022/23; and £285,004 in the current financial year until October 31.

Releasing the information in response to a Freedom of Information request, the Western Trust provided a separate breakdown for expenditure related to the suspension of emergency general surgery at Enniskillen’s South West Acute Hospital (SWAH) in December 2022.

According to the figures, the Trust spent almost a quarter of a million pounds transferring patients from SWAH to Altnagelvin and other locations by private ambulance between December 2022 and October 2023.

Total expenditure over eleven months was £232,953.

Broken down by month, the costs were as follows: December 2022 (£14,109); January 2023 (£32,427); February 2023 (£5,389); March 2023 (£24,547); April 2023 (£19,137); May 2023 (£28,987); June 2023 (£35,584); July 2023 (£11,600); August 2023 (£24,229); September 2023 (£4,764) and October 2023 (£32,180).

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The Trust has said that the decision to temporarily suspend emergency general surgery at SWAH on December 19, 2022, was taken to protect public safety.

Last July, it said an average of two patients per day were being admitted to Altnagelvin Hospital from SWAH for emergency surgery.

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