Taxpayers are forking out nearly £850k a year to fund train tickets for the the UK's largest quango, Government figures show.
NHS England office workers are spending more than £15,000 a week to send staff between its two offices in London and Leeds.
Train fares cost taxpayers £846,686 in the year up to April 2024, according to a Freedom of Information request by The Telegraph.
It represents a 70 per cent rise compared to the previous year with the bill at £500,256.
The FOI showed NHS England staff were routinely travelling for two and a half hours by train between the two cities.
Those trips included meetings and conferences, even with the rise in remote working and video conferencing.
One instance showed managers approve a return ticket costing £432.50.
John O'Connell from the lobby group TaxPayers' Alliance said the cost was "staggering".
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|NHS England office workers are spending more than £15,000 a week to send staff between its offices in London and Leeds
"It's staggering that an HHS quango is blowing more than £15,000 a week on train tickets while ordinary Britons are being told to tighten their belts," he said.
"With remote working and video calls now the norm, there's no excuse for this level of face-to-face travel."
O'Connell said "especially" given the "eye-watering prices".
He added that ministers "must ensure these bloated expenses" were brought under control.
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|The cost has been slammed by the Taxpayer' Alliance
NHS England bought 5,337 single and return tickets between London and Leeds, data shows.
There were more than 100 journeys each week with the average cost of those tickets being more than £150.
It comes after Health Secretary Wes Streeting confirmed Labour was abolishing NHS England in a bid to divert money to frontline services.
Streeting said the budget for NHS England staff and admin alone had soared to £2bn with taxpayers "paying more, but getting less".
Though, it is expected to take more than two years and many of the staff are still expected to be employed by the NHS.
The travel bill of NHS England, covering all forms of transport, increased almost £10m, including £1.5m to reimburse staff for motoring expenses, according to The Telegraph.
An NHS England spokesman said it was a necessary cost.
"Given that staff run a national health service, travel between sits is necessary to ensure effective co-ordination," he said.
"But this should only be undertaken in line with our strict internal processes and government guidance."
The spokesman said "the number of flights taken by staff has almost halved in 2024-25 following the introduction of the Flight Approval Panel".
"So that we continue to ensure every penny of taxpayers' money is spent wisely," he said.