Work done by Cranleigh merchant bankers looking at the future of rural hospitals, tops the list of outside consultancy costs paid by the Otago District Health Board this year.
The board has paid $125,000 of the total $186,553 for the work the firm has done for both Otago and Southland boards on the hospital capacity review.
To February, the board had spent a total of $225,600 on consultants, compared with $200,004 for the full financial year to the end of June last year.
After Cranleigh, this year the next-highest amount of the nine consultancy payments has been $28,455 to FraserGroup Consulting for contract negotiation.
FraserGroup is a consultancy firm run by the board's former regional planning and funding manager Chris Fraser.
Last financial year, the group was paid $35,280 for contract negotiation.
Contract logistics that year cost the board $32,217, paid to Kuehne Nagel, according to the list provided to the Otago Daily Times through an Official Information Act request.
During last year, two amounts are listed involving workplace culture development: one of $16,907, paid to Deloitte, and one of $11,979, paid to Polson Higgs and Co.
The board spent $10,500 on consultancy fees for Maori health planning last financial year, paid to Indigemo, adding to the $51,000 paid to the firm in the year before that.
Until February, the board had spent a total of $66,699 in two years to the University of Otago for a study on preventing obesity in children. The board has a contract with the Ministry of Health to undertake that work, which it has subcontracted to the university.
The $44,291 spent on that project last financial year was the largest single amount of the 14 consultants' accounts paid for the year.
• External consultants' costs for Otago District Health Board
Year Total Contracts
> 2009-Feb 2010 $225,600 9
> 2008-09 $200,004 14
> 2007-08 $266,000 7
> 2006-07 $120,000 4
> 2005-06 $146,000 11
