NEW figures show Huddersfield’s health boss got a pay rise of up to £10,000.

Diane Whittingham earned up to £190,000 as chief executive of Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust – at the same time as running another trust in Lancashire.

The news comes as hundreds of nurses and doctors in Huddersfield come to terms with a two-year pay freeze.

Ms Whittingham was paid £180,000 in 2008/09 for leading the trust, which runs Huddersfield Royal Infirmary and Calderdale Royal Hospital in Halifax.

According to the trust’s annual report, her salary moved up to the £185,000 to £190,000 band in 2009/10.

A trust spokeswoman yesterday refused to reveal the exact level of Ms Whittingham’s pay.

She said: “The figures are presented in this way by all health trusts as is set out in national guidance on putting information in annual reports.”

The spokeswoman added: “The remuneration committee, which is made up of non-executive directors, sets the chief executive’s pay.

“The 2010/11 accounts are due to be published shortly, after they have been laid before Parliament.

“The committee hasn’t met for 2011/12.”

The figures mean Ms Whittingham received a pay rise of between 2.7% and 5.5% in 2009/10.

Last year the Examiner revealed that her salary had increased by 16% from £155,000 in 2006/07 to £180,000 in 2008/09.

In August 2009 she took on a second job as interim chief executive of East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs the hospitals in Burnley, Pendle and Blackburn.

Ms Whittingham handed over control of the Lancashire trust two months ago to the finance director at Calderdale and Huddersfield Trust, Mark Brearley.

Other top trust executives have also received hefty pay rises in the last few years.

The director of service development Lesley Hill went from £95,000 in 2006/07 to £120,000 in 2008/09.

The latest figures show she moved into the £125,000 to £130,000 bracket in 2009/10.

Director of personnel and development Julie Hull went up from £95,000 in 2006/07 to £110,000 in 2008/09.

She moved into the £115,000 to £120,000 band the following year.

The pay of medical director Helen Thomson rose 14% from £105,000 to £120,000 between 2006/07 and 2008/09.

The trust’s annual report shows that she moved in to the £125,000 to £130,000 bracket in 2009/10.

All frontline NHS staff earning more than £21,000 began a two-year pay freeze last month. The Government brought in the austerity measure to help reduce the deficit.

Health workers earning less than £21,000 received a £250 pay rise for 2011/12.

Paul Cooney, Unison branch secretary at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary, called on trust bosses to show restraint this year.

He said: “The health service is being forced to find budget savings of 4% year-on-year so it would be scandalous if senior managers’ already high salaries were increased at all.

“It will be interesting to see if there are further increases in executives’ pay this year when most staff are facing a pay cut in real terms.”

The health service has not been hit by the redundancies which are affecting other parts of the public sector.

A trust spokeswoman confirmed yesterday that there had been no job losses at the organisation in the last year.

Meanwhile, new research shows the average pay of health trust chief executives rose 2.5% from £155,000 in 2008/09 to £158,800 the following year.

Godfrey Bloom, who represents Yorkshire in the European Parliament, this week called for pay restraint.

The United Kingdom Independence Party man said: “I find it just incredible that while most public sector workers are having their pay frozen, or facing redundancy, a majority of NHS chiefs have had a £3,000 pay rise.

“Most of them are already earning more than £150,000 a year and, according to new research, the fourth highest-earning hospital trust chief executive is at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, earning £243,100.

“How must that make nurses working on the frontline feel? Every pay rise for NHS managers means that there will be less money available for frontline services.”

Mr Bloom added that the health service should be more democratically accountable.

“The NHS is in desperate need of reform. Frontline services are suffering and the public are denied the level of service they deserve,” he said.

“This state of affairs can only be solved by elected county health boards which franchise out the provision of services such as hospital management.Š

“Only appropriate competition can drive the costs down of NHS management.”