Thousands of pounds has been spent buying high-end gadgets such as iPads in Midland hospitals during the past two years, new figures show.

Health bosses paid out more than £8,000 on the Apple tablet computers as well as buying iPhones and iPod Nanos in the past two years. Some said the iPads worked out cheaper to buy for staff than laptops.

Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals Trust bought the highest number of devices, according to the figures released under the Freedom of Information Act.

Between April 2009 and September 2011, it purchased 259 iPhones as well as two iPads.

Bosses refused to reveal how much was spent saying the information was “commercially sensitive”.

Spokeswoman Helen Eden said the trust had transferred its Blackberry mobile phones to the Apple iPhones to coincide with a new email system, NHS Mail, and that running costs were lower.

She added: “The iPads have been trialled in clinical areas to assist with undergraduate teaching and have been used with patients who are in a hospital bed to help demonstrate aspects of their condition or operation.”

Walsall Hospitals spent a total of £3,220.34 on six devices.

Steve Darkes, of Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust, said: “The trust purchased the iPads as part of a pilot scheme for use in both clinical and corporate areas of the organisation, which we hope to have the results from in late spring 2012.”

Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust bought five iPads at a cost of around £3,000.

Spokeman Rebecca Bourne said the devices had been bought instead of laptops and there had been a “slight” cash saving.