More NHS bosses than ever before are receiving six-figure salaries, new figures have revealed.

A survey by Incomes Data Services, an independent research organisation, show that just over a quarter of NHS trust chief executives received salaries of £100,000 or over during the year to the end of March 2001 - a sharp increase on the 16 per cent who received the same salary levels during the previous 12 months.

The results show that on average chief executive pay rose by 5.3 per cent, with a range from zero to 35 per cent. The rises compare with an increase of 3.3 per cent for doctors.

The highest basic salary was £133,000, paid to David Johnson, chief executive of Leeds Teaching Hospitals. The highest payment including bonuses was £139,000, paid to John Cooper, head of the Hammersmith Hospitals NHS Trust which has an annual turnover of £263 million.

Trusts in the London area were the highest payers, while chief executives in the West Midlands received the lowest median remuneration, at £81,000.

The report also finds that performance-related pay, introduced by the government for other public sector workers such as teachers, plays little role in the pay packages of most chief executives. Less than a fifth were awarded a bonus, IDS found, fewer than in the previous year.

There was also criticism of the lack of transparency in the accounts of NHS Trusts. Few trusts do more than meet the minimum statutory requirements for information on salaries and remuneration, falling below the standards of disclosure common in the private sector.

The survey examined data on chief executives' salaries, benefits and bonuses contained in over 380 trust annual reports with financial years ending on 31 March 2001. Year-on-year increases were measured for a matched group of chief executives who were in post for two successive financial years.

The results cover about 90 per cent of all the NHS trusts in the UK, said IDS.