Hospital managers' pounds 13,000 trip criticised as wasteful

A ROUND-THE-WORLD trip by hospital managers to look at computers has been attacked as a waste of public money by a trade union.

Four managers from the same department will join two computer experts for the 15-day pounds 13,000 trip across the United States, Australia and New Zealand.

They say the trip is strictly for business purposes as they prepare to buy computer equipment for the radiology departments at two Southampton hospitals. They want to avoid any costly mistakes.

But Peter Jenks, of the health union Unison, said: 'I think that's the very thing that doesn't justify it. Surely too much money has been wasted chasing ridiculous computer schemes already in the NHS. It's an exemplary waste of public money.'

Managers at the Southampton University Hospitals NHS Trust said they wanted to be sure they see a variety of computer systems in use before they decided.