AMBULANCE bosses in Yorkshire have admitted spending £1,000 to hire a four-star hotel for their latest public board meeting.

Front-line staff at the Yorkshire Ambulance Service have asked why trust members held their meeting at the 17th century Tankersley Manor near Barnsley, when last month union bosses told ambulance staff their pay and conditions were under threat because the service was being forced to make millions in savings.

One staff member said the choice of venue had “gone down like a lead balloon” among fellow paramedics and drivers.

He said: “When we have been told we have to face swingeing cuts, why have the board committed to holding them in a four-star hotel when they have perfectly good facilities of their own?

“It smacks of a board out of control when it comes to spending money.”

In a recent letter sent from Unison branch manager Bryn Webster to ambulance staff, they were told the trust had to find savings of about £40 million over the next five years and that “the real world was about to hit them”.

At the time, Rod Barnes, director of finance and performance at YAS NHS Trust, said: “Due to budget cuts across the public sector, like many organisations, over the next few years we have to find ways to make the necessary savings and we are developing plans to look at ways in which this can be achieved.”

Commenting on the choice of venue for the meeting, a spokesperson for the Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust, said: “In a move to engage more with local communities who use our services and to give people the opportunity to find out more about what we do, we recently made a decision to hold our public trust board meetings around the region.

“The first of these meetings, on May 29, 2012, was located at the Tankersley Manor Hotel, near Barnsley, and was preceded by a presentation from our executive medical director on the new ways in which we are caring for patients with major trauma injuries.

“As part of our journey towards becoming a foundation trust, we will be developing this further to give members of the public more opportunities to get involved and help us to shape services in the future.”

The next trust board meeting to be held in public will take place on Tuesday, July 31, at Bishop Burton College, near Beverley.