Pay for senior NHS board directors has frozen over the last year in the first pay freeze since the 2010 spending review, the latest NHS Boardroom Pay report reveals.

The research from Incomes Data Services (IDS) suggests that the median total pay for chief executives across all English NHS trusts during the last year was running at £157,500, while for those in post over the last two years the median salary rise was zero.

Steve Tatton, Editor of the IDS Executive Compensation Review, says: “It appears that those at the top of the NHS have responded to calls for pay restraint, with the previously steady growth of pay at the top grinding to a halt.

“This reflects the ongoing reorganisation and consolidation within the NHS, along with continued pressure from central government to reduce costs, increase efficiency and curb senior executive pay.”