A health authority says it “strongly defends” spending £7million on a consultation on hospital accident and emergency closures.

A freedom of information request to NHS North West London showed that the huge sum – which includes a £3m payment to a consultancy firm – was spent in 18 months as the case for the proposed reorganisation of the area’s hospitals was argued.

But the body said the spending – which also included £650,000 to a public relations firm and £1.5m on offices – was necessary because of the value of the programme.

It said: “The £7m total cost of this programme works out at less than £4 per person for the population of north west London, and represents just 0.2 per cent of the total £3.4billion spent on healthcare there every year.

“This programme will save hundreds of lives – and the value of that is incalculable.

“We strongly defend this expenditure, clinicians all over north west London have said they believe it is the right way to develop better care, and they strongly believe it is in the best interests of their patients.”

Yesterday the cost of the consultation was criticised by London Assembly Member for Brent and Harrow, Navin Shah, who wants A&E departments that will close under the plans to stay open.

NHS North West London’s preferred plan is to downgrade Central Middlesex Hospital’s A&E department to an urgent care centre and make Northwick Park and Hillingdon hospitals the major hospitals for the area.

The proposals, which would come into force in 2016 at the earliest, would mean Northwick Park, which is currently undergoing a £20m redevelopment of its A&E department and is already missing targets, would see an increased demand.

But the health authority believes that the pressure on A&E can be reduced by improving out-of-hospital care for older people and reducing unnecessary referrals from GPs.

It believes that the reorganisation will mean higher volumes of income-generating work will be done at Northwick Park to help it balance its books – it is currently forecast to continue with a long-term deficit.

Final recommendations put forward by NHS North West London are expected to be considered by February next year, with three years of work to develop out-of-hospital care before any changes would be able to be made to any hospitals.