Health boss: the old way of booking travel was better!

Wednesday 13 July 2016

The civil servant in charge of Jersey’s health department has told a scrutiny panel she believes its old system for booking travel and accommodation was superior to the new centralised system.

Giving evidence to the Public Accounts Committee, the Chief Officer for Health and Social Services, Julie Garbutt, said, “...whilst I can see what the centralised system is trying to achieve, and we are keen to be corporate, for all sorts of reasons it’s not as good as it used to be.”

Her comments follow a major review of States travel bookings, after two civil servants booked fully flexible, business class tickets for a States trip at a cost of thousands  of pounds. It was later found they had followed correct current procedure.

Currently most States travel is booked through HRG – the Hogg Robinson Group – an international corporate services organisation which operates in more than 100 countries. It handles the reservations, and charges clients like the States a  fee. The theory is that because it is so big it benefits from economies of scale and can pass these savings on to its clients. But, Ms Garbutt told panel chairman Deputy Andrew Lewis it is not as straight forward as it might seem.

For more than 20 years the hospital had its own “travel office” which handled flights and accommodation for both staff and patients. According to Ms Garbutt the person who ran the office had built up excellent contacts with all the major airlines and was usually able to get much better deals than is currently the case.

She says it was a similar story with accommodation. HRG deals with major chains, so cheaper deals that used to be on offer like staying at various medical colleges are no longer available.

So, it’s a moot point whether there have been savings. The centralised system is supposed to mean lower prices, but that isn’t always the case. In addition the States pay HRG a fee. And whilst some efficiency savings – there was a reduction of half a post at the “travel office” – have been made, it’s not clear whether this balances things up. Especially as there seems to have been a loss of flexibility.

It’s this lack of flexibility that means the “travel office” continues to book flights and accommodation for patients.