Exclusive by Nick Lillitos

nlillitos@thekmgroup.co.uk

A staggering £1,050 a day - that’s the sum paid to a hospital trust’s finance director at the same time taxpayers were asked to bail them out.

Colin Gentile was appointed as interim finance director of the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells Trust in December 2010.

Mr Gentile’s pay during a 12 month period - £240,000 - was more than the salary of the trust’s top man - chief executive Glenn Douglas, who is paid £200,200.

Both men’s payments exceed that of the Prime Minister, who earns £142,500 annually, and an investigation by industry publication Health Service Journal revealed that Mr Gentile was the 10th most expensive interim NHS executive in the country last year.

Mr Gentile left the Trust last month, and is now working at Darent Valley Hospital.

Replacing him on a permanent basis at Maidstone is John Headley, whose salary is believed to be below that of the chief executive.

Asked to comment about Mr Gentile and Mr Headley’s pay, a Trust spokesman would only say: “Senior managers’ salaries are published on an annual basis at the end of each financial year in the trust’s annual report and accounts.”

Earlier this year the Trust, whose hospitals are at Maidstone and Pembury, was one of seven struggling to meet their PFI payments - money demanded by the private sector for building Tunbridge Wells Hospital.

The repayment, plus interest and inflation, costs £1.7 million a month, and over the course of the 30 years’ schedule the total bill will hit £612 million.

At present the Trust has not heard from government what their slice of the £1.5 billion PFI lifeline fund will be.

A Trust spokesman said: “The case for a new hospital was unequivocal and PFI (Public Finance Initiative) was the only avenue of funding made available to the Trust at the time.

“Despite exceptional PFI problems, the Department of Health has commended this Trust on delivering high levels of productivity.”