The Heart to Heart Blog

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0 - 60mph in 4.5secs

by John - 22:47 on 03 July 2012

The Audi TT is an impressive top-of-the-range sports coupe which can boast an exilerhating performance.   With 340 horse power under the bonnet it can achieve a remarkable 0 to 60 in four and a half seconds.
The BMW sports convertible is not far behind, and the new Range Rover Evoque is no slouch.

But what has this got to do with Heart Failure I hear you ask.

Well it is all to do with the Scottish Government Quango - NHS (Scotland) National Procurement.

Since its inception in 2008 the National Procurement quango has set up a vehicle leasing scheme of top-of-the-range sports cars and 4x4s for selected employees.    This is despite having access to 13 pool cars, including four Toyota Prius hybrids and a BMW
The total value of leased cars since the programme began in October 2008 is £971,000.
The NHS pays for the vehicles through monthly rental charges rather than buying them outright.   In addition much of the insurance, petrol, and road tax is funded by the state.

Figures released in response to a Freedom of Information request have shown that some 40 National Procurement employees, or one in eight members of staff, use the sports coupes, convertibles and 4x4s primarily to drive to work, the only business use being a weekly trip from the offices in Larkhall to the offices at The Gyle, a journey of some 38.6 miles, even though there are adequate video conferencing facilities at both locations.

This somewhat extravagent leasing scheme seems to fly against the stated mission statement of National Procurement -
"The organisation has the fundamental goal of saving up to £18m annually for re-investment back into patient care and ensuring high-level product availability at ward level."

I would humbly suggest that the £971,000 that this scheme has cost would go some way to providing a degree of patient care for a few heart failure patients in the Highlands.

As one MSP rightly said -
"Staff who are in genuine need of transport to do their jobs is one thing, but these are status symbols for managers whose jobs are predominantly desk-based."

Source: The Herald

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