Threat to NHS Voluntary Drivers

Adrian Sanders, Lib Dem MP for Torbay is campaigning for an increase in tax free mileage payments to volunteer drivers in the NHS to reflect rising fuel costs and other expenses.

Adrian has joined Lib Dem health spokesman Norman Lamb in lobbying the Government to raise the limit, which currently stands at 40p per mile, so that existing and potential volunteers are not put off by high costs and tax return bureaucracy.

Adrian commented: “I have been contacted by local campaign groups who are very concerned that volunteer drivers, who provide a vital service for the NHS, taking patients to and from health appointments and so on will no longer be able or willing to give their time.”

“It is essential that the Government changes the rules, as it has done for paid NHS employees, and therefore protects many patients from losing this service.”