A health boss has pledged to spend nothing on consultants during the current financial year.

Sutton and Merton’s chief executive Bill Gillespie made the promise after it was revealed the health trust spent more £2.76m for 2009-10 on consultancy fees.

The belt-tightening programme comes as the trust seeks to make savings of £58m by May 2012, with £33m coming in the next financial year.

Officials had claimed the trust’s in-year deficit for 2009 to 2010 stood at £2.3m, but it has since emerged NHS London provided a £4m bailout while Wandsworth and Croydon’s NHS trusts loaned £3.9m after running at a surplus.

Earlier this month the Government’s Health Secretary Andrew Lansley had put consultancy spend for 2009-10 closer to £4.5m, which would have put it the sixth highest of more than 130 health trusts in England But Mr Gillespie said the figure was inaccurate.

He said: “The figure of £4.5m is incorrect and was not provided by the NHS or the Department of Health.

“NHS organisations occasionally have to bring in highly specialist expertise to help with specific pieces of work.”