The chief executives of the health trusts about to be removed by Andrew Lansley are slotted for up to a year’s salary as a lump sum amount which averages £137,500 when they volunteer to leave the NHS before they are moved on.

In a move which is not usually made, all health service managers will be given the cash incentive, the first £30,000 of which would be free of tax, to give-up their jobs. As per the Health Service Journal, which has got details of the deal, the offer is on the table until the end of next month.

“Taxpayers and patients will be furious that these managers are getting such large payoffs,” said a spokesman for the Taxpayers' Alliance. “Taxpayers want their money spent on high-quality healthcare, not over-generous payoffs for staff.”

The scheme was “unlikely to prove attractive to our members” said Jon Restell, chief executive of Managers in Partnership, a trade union for healthcare managers.

The scheme, she said, would “help provide SHAs and PCTs with an additional way of maintaining a stable and flexible workforce, given the requirement for them to significantly reduce management costs.”