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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.

Medics said the spending, uncovered by medical magazine Pulse, was “difficult to justify” when money was being removed from frontline services.

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”.

(Image: Getty) (Image: Getty)

Freedom of Information requests found some 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.”

(Image: Getty)

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 also spent almost £40m in one year contesting thousands of appeals by who say they were wrongly denied benefits.