Swill by mouth

FINE DINING AT OUR EXPENSE: Mary Edwards

FATCAT NHS bosses are gorging on lavish expense-account dinners in fancy restaurants while patients are served meals worth as little as 84p.

A News of the World investigation found health managers claiming outrageous amounts to wine and dine their colleagues and clients.

They include Mary Edwards, boss of Basingstoke and North Hampshire NHS Foundation Trust, who spent £286.44 of taxpayers' cash entertaining five staff at posh West London restaurant Latium.

That is £57.28 a head - £56.44 more than the 84p cost of her hospital patients' suppers.

And the boss of London's Moorfields Eye Hospital claimed £664 for a table of ten at the exclusive Rivington Grill restaurant in Shoreditch.

The £66.40 price tag per person is in stark contrast to the hospital's £4.50 a day food budget for patients.

And 12 directors at Dudley Hospitals Trust spent £373.05 on a meal at Bertorelli in Covent Garden, central London (£31.09 a head).

Joyce Robins of campaign group Patient Concern said: "NHS money is meant for patient care - not posh free food for managers.

"The pitiful amount spent on patients leads to the inedible muck that commonly counts as food in hospitals, resulting in many leaving malnourished."

There have been 2,311 deaths from malnutrition in NHS hospitals since 1997 - although some patients were under-nournished before being admitted. Our investigation also revealed:

Birmingham Children's Hospital's chief exec spent £362.87 of NHS cash on a meal for six (£60.48 per head) in the city's Bank Restaurant. His lunch and dinner budget for each patient is £2.94.

The HR and facilities director at Frimley Park Hospital, Surrey, spent £268 on a meal for five (£53.60 each) at Greens Pub Restaurant in Wickham. Patients' food and drink is £3 per day.

The former chief of South Devon Healthcare spent £296.80 on a meal for six (£49.47) at an upmarket fish restaurant in Torquay. Patients get a budget of £3.50 per day.

A boss at Rotherham General Hospitals claimed £571 for a meal for 12 in Pittsburgh, USA.

The chief exec of Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust spent £237 on entertaining five guests (£39.50each) at the award-winning Moat House in Acton Trussell. Patients' food is £4.28 a day.

The boss of Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital hosted a dinner for five new doctors and the trust's chairman costing £265.50 (£37.93 each). Patients' grub is £5.06 a day.

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