Government blasted over iPads for NHS 'pen pushers'

New data reveals £2m spent on iPads and smartphones for office staff in government bodies

A Labour MP has laid into the government for funding millions of pounds' worth of mobility kit for NHS "pen pushers" who do office work in non-departmental government bodies (NDGBs).

According to data unveiled by Conservative health minister and MP for Central Suffolk and North Ipswitch Dan Poulter yesterday, NDGBs have been provided with more than 5,500 iPads and smartphones since 2011 at a cost to the public of £2.1m. He revealed the data after being asked for it by Labour MP for Wavertree and shadow health minister Luciana Berger via an online parliamentary question portal.

The information shows NHS England was the biggest spender on gadgets – since 2011 it has coughed up £1.2m for more than 2,500 smartphones and iPads.

The Care Quality Commission, which regulates care services across the UK, splashed out almost £130,000 on the devices over the same period. NHS data provider Health and Social Care Information Centre and regulator Monitor spent about £50,000 each on the kit since 2011 and the Department for Health spent £39,170 over the same period.

Labour MP for Hull Karl Turner blasted the government for dishing out the kit as "office perks".

"At a time when the NHS is in crisis, out-of-touch Tory ministers are splashing more than £2m on iPhones and iPads for pen pushers," he told the Mail Online.

"Labour is promising an extra £2.5bn beyond Tory plans – which will be spent on patients, not office perks."

The public sector is a huge market for channel firms, which supply a range of IT kit including mobility devices to front-line staff in NHS bodies across the country. A year ago, reseller Trustmarque began a mission to help the Scottish government work more flexibly by deploying Windows 8 tablets on a trial basis. The government claimed the move would help its civil servants become more efficient.

A department of Health spokesperson told the Mail Online that efficiency and flexible working was at the heart of its mobility purchases in the NHS since 2011.

"Employers across the world are embracing 21st-century technology such as smartphones and tablets because they allow staff to be more flexible and efficient, and in the case of the public sector provide better value for money for taxpayers," they said.

"Our bureaucracy-busting reforms to the NHS are saving £1.5bn a year. There are also over 13,500 more front-line staff and 7,000 fewer managers in the NHS since May 2010."