NHS chiefs and Whitehall officials enjoyed taxpayer-funded "away day" at one of Britain's must luxurious hotels as the UK economy slid into recession.

NHS chiefs enjoy taxpayer-funded away day at luxury hotel as recession bites
article in the Telegraph

Extract 1:

"As private firms cut costs and laid off workers, nine senior managers from the NHS and the Department of health spent two days at the Great Fosters hotel near Egham, Surrey.

Great Fosters is a moated Elizabethan house with 38 rooms costing an average of £200 a night.

The Departmental Board of the Department of Health - which includes the NHS chief executive and the chief medical officer - were there on Thursday 11th and Friday 12th of September this year."

Extract 2:

"Matthew Elliott, Chief Executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: "It is totally wasteful for NHS executives to live a life of luxury at taxpayers' expense. This money was meant to improve the experience of people stuck in crowded hospital wards, not to house bureaucrats in top notch hotels. It is an outrage that while everyone else tightens their belts, the public sector just keeps on spending.""