TORIES BLOW £21M ON THE NHS AXEMEN

Cost of private plans for cuts

THE Government has splurged £21million on hiring consultants to make cuts to the NHS.

Private firms have earned millions from drawing up plans that could lead to the closure of hospitals.

MPs, doctors and nurses branded it “absurd”. Medics said the spending, uncovered by medical magazine Pulse, was “difficult to justify” when money was being removed from frontline services.

Janet Davies, from the Royal College of Nursing, said: “It is a false economy when the consultants cost more than the savings they identify.”

Sustainability and transformation plans (STPs) have been created in 44 regions in a bid to “revolutionise” services while saving money.

PRIORITIES

Dr Chaand Nagpaul, chair of the British Medical Association, said it was unacceptable, and slammed the plans as “ultimately designed as a cover to deliver £26billion in cuts”.

Freedom of Information requests found some STP regions had spent millions on consultants, including KPMG, Carnall Farrar and PwC.

Sharon Hodgson, Shadow Public Health Minister, said: “The Government needs to get its priorities right.”

KPMG said it had “a strong track record in providing value for the NHS”. PwC said it provided “in-depth advice”, and Carnall Farrar said it had helped the NHS “to identify and implement improvements”.

Meanwhile, the Government has spent almost £40million in a year contesting thousands of appeals by sick and disabled people who say they were wrongly denied benefits.