116 local NHS staff earn more than the Prime Minister...

More than 100 NHS staff in Coventry and Warwickshire earn more a year than the Prime Minister.

Figures obtained by the Telegraph reveal that 116 health service workers are on a bigger annual salary than the £142,000 David Cameron takes home.

Most of them, 83, are at University Hospital in Coventry where salaries ranged from as little as £5,084 to £244,427 in 2011/12.

A Freedom of Information request by the Telegraph has lifted the lid on the pay of the top NHS earners. The figures also reveal a big gap in salaries of men and women.

A senior union representative said many NHS workers were underpaid – but he argued that highly specialist, and highly paid, doctors were worth more than the PM.

Unite union representative Frank Keogh said: ‘‘I’m not going to criticise senior health care workers who carry out a specialist role. You could argue they earn more than the Prime Minister and they could do a better job.”

Mr Keogh works at George Eliot Hospital and is Unite’s national representative for health care staff.

There are 19 of people paid more than the PM at Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Partnership Trust, which covers mental health and care in the community.

South Warwickshire NHS Trust, which includes Warwick Hospital and Stratford Hospital, employs 14.

The figures also revealed a ‘gender gap’ among top earners.

There are a total of 4,195 employees working for Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership Trust. Only 837 of these are men. Despite this almost three times more men fill the top medical jobs.

Of 94 people earning more than £75,000 a year, just 26 are women.

Mr Keogh added: “It’s wrong and we need to do more to encourage better representation of women at the top of the workforce.

“Unfortunately this is typical of what’s going on in the NHS. The vast majority of staff are female but historically the vast majority of high paid consultants are male.”

Salaries at University Hospital ranged from £5,084 to £244,427 in 2011/12. Out of more than 6,000 employees 79 per cent are women.

Nine employees were paid more than the highest paid director on £197,500. The year ending in March 2012 saw total staff pay at just over £23million.

George Eliot Hospital responded to the Telegraph’s FOI request stating none of its staff earned more than £142,000 “basic pay”.

Mr Keogh added: “If you talk about pay generally in the NHS our members have received a real terms pay cut this year, after inflation.

“Staff by and large earning less than £25,000 will not have received a pay rise for four or five years. The workforce in general is undergoing a pay squeeze.

“These top earners are highly skilled people who are in demand so you could argue their value is much more than footballers or celebrities.

“The hospital trust recently held a community consultation day to get public feedback over how it deals with “equality and diversity issues” for both patients and staff.

Neither of the region’s primary care trusts – NHS Coventry and NHS Warwickshire – employed staff earning more than the £142,000 salary of the Prime Minister.

The PCTs are due to be phased out as part of major NHS reforms.