Row deepens over NHS patient travel postcode lottery

A PROTEST campaign is escalating over a postcode lottery operating in Scotland for NHS patient travel allowances.

NHS Highland slashed the patient car mileage rate from 18p to 13p for those travelling more than 30 miles for appointments on June 1, while the Western Isles pays 24p and NHS Orkney 18p a mile.

Now critics claim that by allowing health boards to set their own mileage rate the Scottish Government is condoning an unfair system, as parts of NHS Highland have the highest fuel prices in Britain.

Unleaded petrol at the only fuel pumps on the isle of Colonsay is currently 150.2p a litre and 152.6 for diesel, while on the isle of Coll motorists are paying 147p for both.

However, petrol and diesel are available in Kirkwall, in NHS Orkney’s area, at 121.9p and in Stornoway, in the Western Isles, at 122.9p.

Ian Gillies, of Tiree, a former chairman of the Scottish Islands Federation, criticised the unfairness of a scheme which pays 11p less to a patient who fills up with fuel on Colonsay, than their counterparts in the Western Isles.

He said: “This sounds like something a mainland council might consider as a budget saving, without considering additional costs of living in island areas. I think it’s an ill-conceived idea that has not been consulted on.

“NHS Highland should go out to full consultation to consider the implications of people living in islands and remote areas where there are greater distances, geographical disadvantages and problems of isolation.

“If they do not have the relevant figures themselves, to show these increased costs in the Highlands and Islands perhaps they should consult their colleagues in Orkney and the Western Isles?”

Health Secretary Shona Robison said: “With respect to the mileage rate, health boards are free to set an appropriate mileage rate according to local circumstances and is based on either the estimated cost of petrol or the equivalent public transport cost.”

An NHS Highland spokeswoman said reimbursement of 13p a mile is based on HMRC fuel advisory rates and added: “The guidance we follow is Scottish Government guidance from 1996. This guidance is still relevant and our policy is based on that.”