The annual salaries of the chairman and some non-executive directors of Blackpool, Fylde and Wyre Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust have more than doubled, The Gazette can reveal.

The decision was made after the trust gained foundation status – meaning it can now make more of its own decisions, especially on spending money.

MPs and tax campaigners today questioned the rises which come at a time when below inflation pay offers have triggered strikes by rank-and-file civil servants.

Nurses have been offered a rise of 2.75 per cent for the next year.

Hospital chiefs have defended the increases, which range from £22,524 to £45,000 for chairman Beverly Lester and from £5,875 to £13,000 for non-executive directors.

They say board members are now committing more time to the hospital and the rises bring salaries in line with other trusts.

But Michael Jack, MP for Fylde, said while directors' pay should increase as they took on extra responsibilities, "doubling" the amount was "over-the-top".

He said: "They do not have to slavishly follow the pay rates paid by other hospital trusts.

"At a time of restraint in the public sector in terms of pay rates, I think people will find this difficult to understand."

Gordon Marsden, MP for Blackpool South, said he would be contacting the chairman about the issue.

He said: "I'm extremely surprised and concerned about the size of this increase and the way in which it was carried out. It was not put in the public domain and it raises questions about the openness and transparency in which the new foundation trust intends to operate."

And Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: "This is a staggering pay rise, especially when compared to the two per cent that other public sector workers are being limited to.

"People want their taxes spent on caring for the sick, not feathering executive nests.

"Why is our money being poured into massive salaries for directors when what is needed is proper hospital cleaners?"

A spokesman for Blackpool, Fylde and Wyre Hospitals NHS Trust, said since becoming a foundation trust the chairman and directors had taken on more responsibilities and the governors – made up of the public, staff members and partner organisations – had voted for the increase.

Non-executive directors, including the chairman, are not full-time NHS employees.