SEVEN hospital bosses have received almost £70,000 in pay rises between them since last April, the Warrington Guardian can exclusively reveal.

This year’s annual rises saw chief executive Catherine Beardshaw take home the biggest increase — an extra £21,131 that upped her salary to £150,000 from last April’s £128,869.

The second biggest increase went to Jonathan Stephens, director of finance, who now has a £115,000 pay packet compared to last April’s £97,090 – an increase of £17,910.

Mr Stephens also had a rise in December taking his pay packet to £102,200.

Three further board members took home £7,000 pay rises with all rising to £95,000.

They were: Sheila Samuels, director of HR and organisational development; Simon Wright, director of operations and Chris Knights, director of business development.

The next highest rise was medical director Dr Gordon Ramsden’s salary, which increased by £6,423 from £38,539 to £44,962.

Finally, director of nursing and governance Kath Holbourn had a £3,243 increase from her April 2007 salary of £91,757 to earn £95,000.

She had no rise in April 2008.

This year’s were the first pay increases since North Cheshire Hospitals won foundation trust status and became Warrington and Halton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

Since it became a foundation trust, board meetings have been held in private though meetings of the elected governors’ council are held in public. The hospital’s accounts are published in its annual reports, due out in September.

Previously board members had relatively small pay increases, with Mrs Beardshaw, for example, receiving around £2,000 more in April 2007 than in April 2006.

The NHS’ Agenda For Change set in writing a 2.4 per cent pay increase for workers.

A 2.4 per cent wage increase from Mrs Beardshaw’s salary of £128,869 would be just over £3,000.

A spokesman for Warrington and Halton Hospitals said salaries are based on comparative figures from across the NHS and are decided on by a committee of non-executive directors, who judge the rate based on the need to ‘attract the calibre of individual required’.

“The most recent rise also takes into account the move to foundation status. The buck stops with them in terms of the hospital performance and that overall performance is what they will be judged on.”

The average salary for a chief executive of a foundation trust hospital was £157,000 in March 2008.