Limos cheaper by a stretch

It's no cure for the sick, but some hospital patients are enjoying a taste of the high life as they are ferried around for their treatment.

In South Canterbury, the district health board is using limousines to transport some non-urgent patients to other hospitals because it is a cheaper option in many cases than using an ambulance or a taxi.

But the patients are not enjoying other perks such as glasses of champagne while being driven to their destinations.

Health board spokeswoman Arlene Goss said they were usually "far too sick for that type of thing".

The Ministry of Health could not say how common the practice was. Other district health boards surveyed by the Herald use taxis and community trust vans for transporting patients, but not limousines.

South Canterbury District Health Board chief executive Chris Fleming said the use of limousines contracted from a local Timaru firm amounted to only 31 trips, costing a total of $9009 in the 2008/09 financial year.

"Occasionally sick hospital patients are taken by limousine to Christchurch for medical tests that are not provided at Timaru Hospital, and less often to Dunedin for the fitting of new limbs. The patients are then returned to Timaru Hospital," Mr Fleming said.

"The service is only used for inpatients ... where a clinician has determined that the patient is able to sit in the limousine as opposed to needing to lie down in an ambulance.

"Patients are usually accompanied by an appropriate clinical staff member."

A test of the market found a limousine was significantly cheaper than using a taxi or an ambulance, Mr Fleming said.

The cost of an ambulance transfer from Timaru to Christchurch, when requested by the hospital, is $768 including GST. The average cost of a limousine trip for a patient is $290.