Two Shropshire doctors on ski resort jaunt funded by taxpayers
Two Shropshire anaesthetists hit the slopes with hundreds of other doctors at a taxpayer-funded conference in an exclusive Alpine ski resort, it has been revealed.
The specialists attended last month's Doctors Updates conference in Val D'Isere.
The annual conference, between January 28 and 31 this year, is organised to allow delegates to attend seminars between 8am and 9.30am, with a seven-hour break until 4.45pm to give guests time to go skiing.
A spokesman for the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust confirmed the £420 conference fee for both workers was paid for by the organisation.
"Both members of staff covered all their own costs, such as travel, accommodation, food and drink, apart from the £420 course fee, which was paid by the trust," he said.
No-one from Doctors Updates was available for comment today.
Gerald Dakin, chairman of Shropshire Council's healthy scrutiny committee, said: "Frankly I'm shocked but I want to find out more."
He said he wanted to find out what was learnt by the anaesthetists to justify them going on the trip.
Bernie Jones, from the Shropshire Patients' Group, said: "What I would like to hear from the delegates is what value for the money for the patients they got. Did they get £420 worth?
"It is a good old annual jolly. It is a bit of a disgrace. We are meant to be in deep austerity measures."
