TAXIS are making 50-mile round trips from Exeter to Okehampton Hospital to transport health workers short distances to care for patients in the community, an NHS trust has admitted.

Concerns were raised by town councillor David Weekes at a meeting of Okehampton Town Council on September 11.

Cllr Weekes said it was ‘disgusting’ that taxis were being brought in from Exeter to prop up a home care service that was supposed to replace the hospital’s inpatient beds that were shut last month.

‘I was talking to one of the staff at the hospital and they told me that they are sending taxis from Exeter to pick nurses up at the hospital and drive them to work locally,’ he said.

‘One fare was from the hospital to Crediton Road, which is all of half a mile. I’m saying it must be costing £65-£70 to do that one journey. If they are doing journeys like that all week that is a hell of a waste of money. It is an absolute travesty that they are using an Exeter firm to do the work.

‘I’m really annoyed that we have lost our beds in this area, it is just disgusting, and it would probably be cheaper to have the beds than to do this.’

The hospital’s 16-bed inpatient unit was closed by NHS bosses on August 21, despite fierce opposition from the local people and councillors, with NHS bosses saying that patients would be better cared for in the community.

Cllr Weekes said that the fact that the Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the hospital, was having to use taxis to ferry staff showed the plan had not been properly thought through.

‘They are not ready to be doing what they are supposed to be doing,’ he said. ‘They have shut the beds and taken away the service and they can’t provide the other service that is supposed to be replacing it. A lot of the nurses can’t drive and the hospital doesn’t have vehicles of its own. And they have got an Exeter firm to do all the work, which is just bad management.’

Okehampton mayor Jan Goffey said: ‘If this is happening, it is not the best use of NHS funds.’

A spokesman for the Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust said: ‘Following the closure of inpatient beds at Okehampton, we have redeployed staff to other community settings. As a temporary measure, the trust is supporting a very small number of its staff with transport to their new locations. Where public transport is not available and staff have no other means of travel, taxis have been used to ensure staff can get to their work place and are not disadvantaged.

‘As part of the Your Future Care programme, in eastern Devon we now have more than 50 extra nurses, therapists and support workers in post on top of existing community health and social care staff.’

He confirmed that the trust was using an Exeter taxi firm to transport staff in Okehampton, but declined to comment on whether the NHS was footing the bill for the journeys from Exeter to Okehampton.