HOSPITAL bosses paid consultants £19,000 to engage with the public about an NHS overhaul which could see the closure of a hospital emergency department.

Neal Stote, chairman of the Save the Alex campaign, asked why NHS leaders could not carry out the work as Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust is trying to save £50 million over the next few years.

The trust is recruiting a ‘head of transformation’ with a salary of between £54,454 and £67,134 to help it make savings of £30 million. The NHS is in the process of a joint service review which could involve the possibility of closing the accident and emergency department at the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch and the centralisation of maternity services.

An NHS Worcestershire spokesman said: “NHS Worcestershire paid Participate £19,000 to facilitate seven public events around the county and to produce an independent and impartial report on their findings. “We are committed to an open and transparent review and recognise that people want fair decisions made on impartial evidence.

“We have released the executive summary and will be publishing the whole report on our website shortly. No decisions have been made.

“The report’s findings will feed in to the next stage of the review, which will see shortlisting of options before full consultation beginning in November. Consultation will run for three months.”

Mr Stote said the payment to Participate would have been more worthwhile if more people had given feedback at the seven events.

The executive summary lists 390 visitors to seven countywide public events between June 27 and July 10.

The figures show that in Redditch 49 per cent of participants (69 out of 142) disagreed or strongly disagreed that changes to healthcare across Worcestershire were needed.

Mr Stote said: “Everyone knows the strength of feeling about services being lost in the north of the county. I don’t think they need to spend all that money to find that out.”

Mr Stote said it would have been easier to gauge people’s views if NHS leaders had attended a rally in Redditch on Saturday against the changes, attended by 1,500 people.

Some 46,523 people have signed a petition against the loss of any hospital services at the Alexandra Hospital.