Consultancy fees paid by NHS Fife would pay for the closure-threatened hospice at Queen Margaret Hospital in Dunfermline, it has been claimed.
Cowdenbeath MSP Helen Eadie revealed figures which showed the health board spent £10,000 more on non-medical contractors in 2010 than it would save in axing the hospice ward.
Data obtained by a freedom of information request submitted by the Labour MSP showed NHS FIfe spent more than £334,580 last year on 60 consultancy companies who carried out work in IT, estates and facilities and training.
Closing ward 16 would save £322,000 a year.
Mrs Eadie said the figures, which cover only non-medical consultancy costs, showed NHS Fife had the ability to make savings elsewhere in its budget to safeguard the future of the ward.
“People in Fife have made it clear they want to see the hospice saved and would rather their money be spent on the facility rather than external contractors,” she said.
“It’s now time for the health board to end the speculation and make it clear that the hospice will be saved.”
Caroline Inwood, operational division nursing director, said services at the hospital will change as the new wing at the Victoria Hospital opens.
“We are therefore looking on a Fife-wide basis at ward 16 and at all the other teams and buildings which provide support and care to people in the last stages of their lives,” she said.
Chief executive George Brechin said it was impossible for NHS Fife to provide all support services in house.
He added: “We only go to external support when we do not have inhouse skills.”
He said the FOI response took a “wide interpretation” of the meaning of consultants. The biggest single payment of more than £70,000 was for IT equipment and services across Fife, while £40,000 was for expertise on planning permission for the sale of surplus land.
There were no payments to “management consultants”.