Failing hospital trust paid more than £1 million for consultant Between then and March last year, a total of £1,106,713 was paid to his firm, Bolt Partners, which describes itself as a "leading turnaround and performance consulting boutique." Two colleagues were also appointed to help him work on the project. The 42-year-old married father of two - who owns a £2 million in London - cut staff numbers and overtime payments, and reduced the agency staff bill. But the moves led to some doctors complaining that they did not have enough equipment. Bolt Partners also advised the Surrey and Sussex NHS Trust between 2007 and 2008 - another of the trusts on the critical list. Mr Bolot was also involved in the aftermath of the Southern Cross care home scandal, which saw thousands of elderly people threatened with eviction when the firm got into financial trouble. In addition to Bolt Partners, over the past year, South London Healthcare Trust has paid out at least £3.6 million on "external consultancy fees," including £70,000 to City giant McKinsey & Company, and £424,396 to PricewaterhouseCoopers. Critics last night branded the consultancy fees a waste of money. Dr Peter Carter, chief executive of the Royal College of Nursing, said: "The trust needs to justify why it paid an interim finance director this much when nurses and other NHS staff are seeing front line services cut, workloads increased and pay frozen." Meanwhile it emerged that more than 30 NHS trusts could be forced to merge, devolve services into the community and make job cuts as part of a radical restructuring of hospital care across England. Yesterday the Department of Health said it considered 21 hospitals to be "clinically and financially unsustainable" and in need of radical restructuring. However, the list did not include another five foundation hospitals - run independently of the Department of Health - which are also considered to be failing financially. A further five foundation hospitals also have severe financial problems.