A decision to give non-executive directors at Airedale Hospital a 100 per cent pay increase has been condemned by a union.

Unison, which represents 300 staff at the Steeton hospital, denounced the pay rise as a disgrace.

Dozens of job losses are in the pipeline at Airedale as it battles to plug an £11 million hole in its finances.

Commenting on the pay rise in the union’s latest health branch newsletter, area organiser Natalie Ratcliffe said: “Staff side representatives lodged their absolute disgust with the Trust over this decision in this very uncertain climate and with our members’ jobs at risk. We asked the Trust to overturn this decision. We were told ‘no’.”

A spokesman for Airedale NHS Foundation Trust said responsibility for setting fees for foundation trust chairmen and non-executive directors rests with the hospital’s elected Council of Governors.

She said: “At its meeting on January 26, the Council considered the fee structure for our chairman and non-executive directors. It approved an increase based on a national Foundation Trust Network chair and non-executive director remuneration survey. The non-executive directors’ pay was increased from £6,096 to £12,500 per annum and the chair’s increased from £20,896 to £42,500 per annum, from February 1, 2011. The chairman of the Audit Committee and the chairman of the Quality and Safety Assurance Committee receive a further £2,500 per annum for this additional responsibility.

  • Read the full story in Wednesday's T&A