THE trust which runs Fairfield Hospital has defended its use of taxis to transfer nurses between its four sites to cover staff shortages.

As reported in last week's Bury Times, letters sent by nurses on Ward 30, which the Pennine Acute Trust is proposing to close to reduce debts of more than £28 million, described how they would often turn up at work and be sent to another hospital via a taxi paid for by the trust.

One nurse wrote: "We have been coming into work not even knowing which hospital we will be working in, let alone which ward we will be working on. On arriving at work we are then transported to these other hospitals by taxi, at some cost.

"The wards we have been getting sent to have not even been our areas of speciality. This is obviously not good practice and it is putting patients at risk."

A spokesman from the trust said: "Although we try to have set rotas, the NHS has a major problem with short-term illness, so it is not always possible to state where people will be working in advance.

"If an individual was not working at Fairfield then taxis were offered as a courtesy, taking them to work and collecting them afterwards. Because we have service contracts with various firms, we do not pay full commercial rates, and a taxi fare is a lot cheaper than paying a nursing agency to fill a shift which could be filled by a nurse whom we already employ.

"Naturally, this isn't a one-way street. Fairfield has, in the past, benefited from similar support from our other hospitals. It is absolutely appropriate that staff are used where the demand is. Clearly, once redeployment offers are made to staff, then that will give them the certainty which they are seeking."