Taxpayers paid £6 more per head this year as management costs for Sutton and Merton Primary Care Trust rose.
Costs increased from £29.44 per head in 2007/08 to £35 per head in 2008/09, according to the PCT’s annual accounts.
A PCT spokeswoman attributed the increase to the trust’s reorganisation as the provider arm of the PCT, separated from the commissioning arm.
Costs had also increased after “external expert advisors” were brought in to help the PCT execute the closure of Orchard Hill, the last long-stay learning disability hospital in the country.
Consultants were also engaged to help with the Better Healthcare Closer to Home programme, which aims to give local people convenient community access to health services.
She said: “If we are to move forward at the pace that the public expects, and meet the challenges of the modern NHS, we have to obtain appropriate external support to help us manage our strategic agenda.
"It is standard practice for NHS organisations to do this.
“In the long term we hope to be able to save management costs as a result of improving efficiencies and managing services better using measures that have been introduced during the separation process.”
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