A team of consultants who drew up plans to cut 400 hospital jobs have been paid almost £700,000 in fees in only three months.

The turnaround team from KPMG has been paid the money after the firm was hired by Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust in January.

The sum is the equivalent to the salary of 40 nurses on a starting wage of £17,500.

The trust, which runs Crawley Hospital and East Surrey Hospital in Redhill, has one of the largest debts in England at almost £60 million and has been spending £2 million a month more than it can afford.

It is axing 400 jobs as part of its plans to save money although it is not expecting wholesale redundancies.

Most posts affected are expected to be administrative.

The eventual cost of bringing in the KPMG team will rise as it does not include the money paid to the trust's turnaround director Tim Bolot.

The fees are already more than twice the amount the trust spent on external professionals in one year.

Between April 2004 and the end of March 2005, the trust spent £333,352 on professional fees, which includes architects, surveyors, criminal records bureau checks and consultants.

But between April 2005 and the end of March this year, the overall figure rose to just above £1 million when the cost of the turnaround team was added.

A trust spokeswoman said spending the money now would help in the longer term.

She said: "If the turnaround team and advisor assist in bringing the trust back in to balance sooner then the process will have provided value for money.

"One month ahead would save us £2 million and we need to get to a break-even position as soon as possible."

Campaigner Michael Edwards, from Crawley, who has fought to have a new hospital built in Crawley and wants A&E services to be returned to the town's hospital from East Surrey, said: "I am amazed money is being spent like this. It seems a complete waste to me."

Surrey and Sussex Healthcare was one of three trusts in Sussex to have specialist finance experts sent in by the Government after their debts spiralled out of control.

Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals and Royal West Sussex in Chichester have also appointed turnaround teams.