UK (Parliament Politics Magazine) – NHS England spent £850k on trains between London and Leeds in 2023–24, raising criticism over rising costs despite remote work options.
As reported by The Telegraph, Britain’s top quango spends around £850,000 each year on rail travel for employees, funded by taxpayers.
What did Freedom of Information reveal about NHS train costs?
NHS England is spending more than £15,000 a week on train fares for staff travelling between its London and Leeds offices.
Newly published NHS data shows that staff train travel between cities cost nearly £850,000 last year, a 70% increase from the previous year.
Despite the growing shift toward remote work and video conferencing, NHS England continued to send staff on regular 2.5-hour train trips between London and Leeds for meetings and conferences.
A single return train ticket costing £432.50 was approved by NHS management and paid for using public money.
Freedom of Information records reveal NHS England staff made more than 5,300 trips between Leeds and London last year, averaging over 100 journeys a week, with each ticket costing more than £150.
Train spending by the NHS surged by nearly 70% in the past year, rising from £4.7 million to £7.9 million. NHS England’s total travel spending neared £10 million, with £1.5 million spent solely on reimbursing staff for driving expenses.
What did the TaxPayers’ Alliance say about the NHS’s £15K-a-week train spend?
John O’Connell, of the lobby group the TaxPayers’ Alliance, stated,
“It’s staggering that an NHS quango is blowing more than £15,000 a week on train tickets while ordinary Britons are being told to tighten their belts.”
He added,
“With remote working and video calls now the norm, there’s no excuse for this level of face-to-face travel, especially at such eye-watering prices. Ministers must ensure these bloated expenses are brought firmly under control.”
What did NHS England say about staff travel spending?
An NHS England spokesman stated,
“Given that our staff run a national health service, travel between sites is necessary to ensure effective co-ordination, but this should only be undertaken in line with our strict internal processes and government guidance.”
They added,
“The number of flights taken by staff has almost halved in 2024-25 compared to 2023-24 following the introduction of the Flight Approval Panel, so that we continue to ensure every penny of taxpayers’ money is spent wisely.”
What did Wes Streeting say about NHS bureaucracy?
The Government moved to scrap NHS England earlier this year, claiming the shake-up would cut red tape and redirect millions to frontline services strained by increasing demand.
The Health Secretary said NHS England’s staff and admin budget had reached £2 billion, warning that taxpayers were “paying more, but getting less in return.”
The process may take over two years, and many staff are expected to stay on in other NHS roles.
NHS staff
- 1.5 million employees – The NHS in England employs over 1.5 million people, making it one of the largest employers in the world 1012.
- 147,300 doctors – There are nearly 150,000 doctors, but England still has fewer per capita (3.2 per 1,000 people) than the EU average (3.9) 512.
- 100,000+ vacancies – The NHS faces over 100,000 job vacancies, including 7,700 doctor posts and 25,600 nursing roles 912.
- 42% stressed at work – Over 40% of medical staff report work-related stress, with 30% feeling burnt out due to heavy workloads