Chiefs get salary boost as trust struggles with massive debts and sacks its staff.

MANAGERS at the debt-ridden trust that runs the county's hospitals have been given pay rises despite huge debts and 720 staff being made redundant.

Members of the board of directors for the Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust received a 3.2 per cent rise in their salaries despite efforts to plug a £30m gap in finances.

The increases are nationally-agreed, and for some members of the board, it meant their annual pay stays in the same band, while for others, the rise moves them up to the next band.

Rachel Overfield, director of nursing and midwifery for the Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, was paid a salary within the band £70-75,000 per year for the year 2004/05, but that moved into the next band for 2005/06 to £80-85,000.

Chief executive John Rostill stays on pay in the band between £140,000 to £145,000.

The pay rises come in the face of staffing cuts, and potential ward closures at the trust's three hospitals, including the maternity and paediatrics departments at the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch.

Neal Stote, leader of the Save the Alex campaign, said he thought it was a "poor show."

"Whether it is a national increase or not, my understanding is that Gordon Brown's guidelines were that pay rises should be kept below the rate of inflation (2.4 per cent)," he said.

"I have not had that, their staff have not had that, I think it shows poor taste and questions their judgement. I would be particularly hacked off if I were a member of staff. If that were a private company that had just reported £33m debt and staff cuts, it would be a very brave board to say we are giving ourselves 3.2 per cent pay rises - I think they would get voted out or at least shouted down.

"Money should follow rewards and not the other way round. If the organisation cannot afford it, you do not have pay increases."

Wyre Forest MP Dr Richard Taylor, a former hospital consultant, said: "I would hope that because of the financial constraints at the moment, they would insist on having no more than doctors or nurses are being given, if at all.

"They should certainly not have an increase higher than the rest of the staff. If they are in a position to turn it down then you would admire them if they did that."

A trust spokeswoman said: "The salaries of all our directors are determined by the trust's remuneration committee. In the period covered by the annual report all the members of the executive team received the standard nationally agreed cost of living increase for senior NHS managers of 3.2 per cent.

"In addition, where the remuneration committee considers that a director is due a salary increase to bring their pay into line with their peers elsewhere in the NHS they can approve an appropriate adjustment.