NHS pay gap widens as chiefs earn more than bliar

Chief executives at some of the biggest National Health Service trusts are paid more than most Whitehall permanent secretaries, with the most highly paid earning more than the prime minister or cabinet secretary.
Their latest rise comes as top pay in the NHS is becoming much more like that in the private sector, according to Income Data Services, the pay specialists, with a widening gap between the pay of senior executives and other employees.
Pay for the chief executives who run hospital trusts rose between 7% and 7.5% in 2003- according to Income Data Services. This is over twice the 3.2% average that the rest of the NHS staff received.
This reflects a continuing trend, with the total remuneration of NHS chief execs rising by 70% over the past decade while the earnings of nurses rose by only 50%.
For the first time the pay of an NHS chief has gone through the £200,000 barrier with Derek Smith the CEO of Hammersmith Hospital's NHS trust receiving between £210,000 and £215,000 last year.