HEALTH bosses at a trust judged to require improvement were rewarded with top financial packages worth a total of more than £500,000 last year, new information shows.
The highest earner at the trust which provides the county's mental health and community services was Dr Andrew Brittlebank, medical director for the Cumbria Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, who took home a package worth £220,000 for 2015/16 - including a salary of £165,000.
Next in line was trust chief executive Claire Molloy who netted a hearty £145,000 in salary on top of £42,500 in pension and other benefits over the 12 month period.
Mrs Molloy was closely followed by Dr John Howarth, director of service improvement, who earned a total package of £185,000 of which £155,000 was paid over in wages.
In total, the cost of remunerating eight top directors at CPFT - a body deemed to require improvement by the Care Quality Commission in February - was £1.13m.
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Their benefits included 33 days of annual leave on top of eight bank holidays a year.
Non-executive directors were paid an annual sum of £12,000 each last year with chairman Mike Taylor receiving £45,000 for his role.
A spokesman for the organisation said it was right that the earnings of its most highly paid employees were published in its annual report as part of an ongoing commitment to transparency.
They added: "Cumbria Partnership NHS Foundation Trust is a publicly funded organisation and it is right that the executive and non-executive directors' salaries are published each year in the annual report, which is available on our website.
"There have been no increases to salaries for non-executive or executive directors for the last four years other than to reflect additional responsibilities following the secondment of the director of finance.
"This is despite directors taking on additional system leadership roles as we work more closely with our partners."
CPFT, which runs Dane Garth, at Furness General Hospital, as well as providing services for children with moderate to severe mental health needs from the Fairfield Centre, in Barrow, recorded a deficit of £9.1m in its final accounts at the end of March, following what it's board of directors described as a 'challenging year'.
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In the organisation's annual report, directors were found to be earning an average of six times the amount received by other members of its 4,000-strong workforce.
Individual rates of pay for those in charge were set by non-executive directors based on a number of factors including financial climate, comparison with other trusts around the country and market rates.
The trust spokesman said: "All executive directors participate in the annual executive appraisal process which incorporates assessment of performance against targeted objectives, demonstration of behaviours in line with the trust's values and the agreement of a personal development plan for the coming year with the chief executive.
"Personal objectives for each executive director are agreed in line with the annual business plan which underpins the trust's delivery against the five year strategy and associated strategic goals."
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