The NHS has forked out £100,000 for a market research company to handpick an audience for a consultation into cuts.

The four meetings, one of which was held in the Antoinette Hotel in Surbiton on Thursday, July 14, were described as “public events” to discuss challenges to the NHS.

However only members of the public who were invited could attend the meetings, which discussed cuts and reconfiguration of NHS services across south west London.

Meetings for the general public are planned for later this year to discuss the £64.5m savings NHS London needs to make next year which unions believe could end up recommending hospital unit closures.

Julie Reay, of campaign group Health Alert Kingston, said: “To gain any public confidence it is important to ensure all meetings are open and accessible, however inconvenient that may be for the bodies in question.”

A spokesman for NHS South West London said further meetings would be open to the public.

Dr Howard Freeman, NHS South West London’s joint medical director, said: “We appreciate that this (£100,000) is a lot of money but we need to make sure we do this thoroughly, engaging people at this early stage so they can influence the discussions of the clinical working groups.

“We believe it is worth investing in events like these to make sure that local residents and key stakeholders are involved in identifying the problems and in shaping the solutions.”

The money went toward two meetings in Battersea on Saturday, July 9 and July 16, and two for invited patient groups, voluntary organisations and councillors.

Closures of hospitals or hospital services were not discussed by anybody on the panel or any of the audience members, a spokesman for NHS South West London said.

Michael Walker, of public services union Unison, said: “Any meeting that does not discuss closures is unrealistic and totally out of touch with what is going on. Whether you are for or against they are part of the debate.”

Some of the £100,000 went towards paying expenses for the members of the public, videos with doctors and nurses about cuts, an electronic voting system to capture the opinions of the meeting and an independent report at the end of the four meetings.

Last year David Cameron and Nick Clegg stepped in to put a halt to a review which was alleged to be considering the impact of closing services at Kingston Hospital as part of a wider look at healthcare across south west London.