Almost €95,000 was spent on taxis by the HSE transporting Clare patients to different hospitals for treatments such as dialysis.
Prior to his retirement from politics, James Breen tabled a motion to Clare County Council seeking details on the cost of rental accommodation in the county plus the amount of money spent on taxi services for transporting patients and blood samples to various hospitals in the region.
In February, Cllr Pat Daly (FF) claimed “€1000s is spent every week” on giving transport to dialysis patients in Clare who have to travel to Galway and Limerick for treatment. Breen described the fees as “enormous”. The pair plus Cllr Pat McMahon (FF) had requested a dialysis centre be set up at Ennis General Hospital but were told by UL Hospitals Group that they have no immediate plans to do so.
The Clare Echo has seen correspondence from the HSE and UL Hospitals Group to Clare County Council which confirmed taxi costs for the county in 2018 were €94,794. This includes “the cost for patients, laboratory and blood samples”.
There were no accommodation costs relating to acute services in Co Clare last year.
