HEALTH chiefs are spending thousands of pounds of NHS money paying an adviser to tell staff how to get to and from work.
Months after the NHS in Sheffield was criticised for splashing £1.4 million fitting out its new headquarters, it is now paying for a travel co-ordinator to work two days a week.
The official is tasked with helping the organisation's 400 staff travel to and from NHS Sheffield's new HQ on Prince of Wales Road, Darnall.
The offices are only 3.4 miles from the city centre - a journey of six minutes by car.
The number 52 bus travels to Darnall every six minutes, or the offices are a five-minute walk from Darnall train station, a 10-minute ride from the city centre.
What do you think? Add your comment below.Today the appointment was slammed as "wasteful" by union leaders and health workers.
One outraged employee at a Sheffield doctor's surgery said: "It beggars belief that they have appointed a travel co-ordinator to help people find their way to and from Prince of Wales Road. A monkey could find its way there."
Rob Demain, of trade union Unison which represents staff at NHS Sheffield, formerly known as Sheffield Primary Care Trust, said the appointment was "a waste of money and an unnecessary extravagance".
"This is a trust still among those on a Government list which could have private-sector managers imposed because of poor performance," he added.
The unnamed official is responsible for helping staff at NHS Sheffield - the organisation responsible for community health services - to travel to work in a more environmentally-friendly way.
The role includes encouraging staff to car-share, coaxing them out of their cars and on to public transport, and getting them to cycle or walk.
NHS Sheffield will not reveal how much they are paying for the co-ordinator's nine-month contract. The organisation pays South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive for the official's services.
But a spokeswoman insisted the trust was required to produce a travel plan to cut the number of staff commuting to work by car.
She said the requirement was a condition of planning permission for the new offices, which have replaced NHS sites in Firth Park, Fulwood, Hillsborough and Orgreave.
"NHS Sheffield is working with staff and partners to reduce our carbon footprint and improve health," she said.
"We have produced a travel plan, a requirement by Sheffield Council, which is a package of measures designed to promote alternative travel choices and, as a result, reduce the impact the organisation's travel has on the environment."
She said the co-ordinator acts as "a point of contact for all staff requiring information relating to this, including raising awareness around the benefits of walking and cycling to work, car share schemes, encouraging the use of public transport, and to assist the organisation and its staff to reduce unnecessary travel".
The spokeswoman added: "In terms of cost, NHS Sheffield expects to make sound financial savings in the long-term by reducing car parking payments through this short-term investment."
In April, Unison criticised NHS Sheffield for an "obscene" decision to spend the equivalent of £3,500 on furniture for each member of staff at Darnall.
READ MOREMain news indexCheck out the very latest on South Yorkshire's roads - including live traffic cameras on Sheffield's commuter routes - with our Traffic sectionLettersFind out what else is going on in your area and send us the news that is happening In Your Neighbourhood, click hereLatest sport.The full article contains 601 words and appears in Sheffield Star newspaper.
