CORPORATE credit cards have been withdrawn from managers at a major Scottish health board after a review found some spending was not backed by receipts.

Helpline NHS 24, which is facing financial scrutiny after the cost of a new IT programme spiralled millions of pounds over budget, has stopped the use of at least seven cards - noting the holders had been left to authorise their own card statements.

More than £58,000 has been spent on corporate credit cards by NHS 24 in the last three financial years, including £24,644 in 2013-2014.

The helpline, which carries out "European engagement work" on behalf of the Scottish NHS, says expenditure on the most heavily used cards relates to this and the "NHS 24 staff achievement awards".

In a statement they said there has never been any suggestion of "impropriety" in the way the cards were used.

A paper, presented to an internal NHS 24 meeting last month and leaked to The Herald, says: "In August 2014 the director of finance raised concerns with the chief executive and the chairman on the access to and use of corporate credit cards across NHS 24.

"The director of finance then carried out a review of credit card usage over a two year period to September 2014."

This investigation found most of the card holders, which include the chairman, chief executive, medical director, nurse director and human resources director, was "minimal" except for two including the card held by the finance department.

The paper says "there were insufficient receipts to support the credit card statements in some cases," "a lack of authorisation and review process" and noted the finance department card was in the name of a relatively junior member of staff.

Information, obtained under Freedom of Information legislation by The Herald, shows the largest amount spent on one card in the last two financial years was £2991, the second largest £2785 and the third £2193.

The health board also funded 87 staff trips abroad between April 2014 and the end of February 2015, to 42 different destinations including five people attending an eHealth forum in Athens. The previous year there were 124 trips, to 52 destinations, including meetings in Spain, Naples, Brussels, Sweden and Dubai.

In total NHS 24 has spent almost £220,000 on European travel in the last three financial years. It's total annual budget is £71.2m.

In a statement the helpline said: "NHS 24 has been carrying out a range of European engagement work on behalf of NHS Scotland since 2011. Funding for this work comes from both the European Commission and Scottish Government and is separate from the core funding of NHS 24 services.

"Approximately £4.8M of funding has been secured for the delivery of projects in Scotland as a result of this work.

"NHS 24 employs a number of staff through the Scottish Centre for Telehealth and Telecare, to work directly with colleagues in the European Commission and European regions on the development of digital and innovative health and care programmes. The primary aim is to bring the benefits of such programmes back to patients and the health service in Scotland."

Concerns have been raised by Audit Scotland about NHS 24's finances in relation to a new technology programme for handling and diagnosing patients which is projected to run £23m over budget. The IT package was due to be implemented 18 months ago, but was delayed after it hit problems at the testing stage and still has no definite start date.

The Scottish Government has lent the board £20.76m extra cash, known as brokerage, to deal with the problem.

Last year The Herald also revealed NHS 24 had spent £670,000 of Scottish Government money developing a website offering online health checks to people turning 40 which was shelved by ministers little more than two years after it was announced.

A Scottish Government spokesman confirmed that as well as providing health advice and support by telephone, NHS 24 leads the development of telehealth on behalf of Scotland and this involves learning from other countries.

He continued: "Through this work, NHS 24 has attracted several million pounds of European investment into Scotland's telehealth and telecare services, and in order to attract this investment a degree of travel is required.

"However, the Scottish Government expects all NHS boards to apply strict controls on the use of public money for travel - spending only where appropriate and ensuring the best value for the taxpayer. These robust governance arrangements also apply to the use of corporate credit cards."