THE chief executive bought in to sort out crisis-hit Dorset County Hospital cost £2,557 a day – more than a nurse earns in a month.

Agency fees for the Dorchester hospital’s interim boss reached nearly a quarter of a million pounds for just 97 days work.

Derek Smith was employed at a cost of £248,041 – working out at £2,557 per day – for his work for three or four days a week from September 1, 2009 to end of the financial year to March 31 this year.

His expenses – covering such costs as travel, food and subsistence – stood at an extra £19,539 for the same period.

The figures were revealed in the newly published Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust’s annual report and accounts for 2009 to 2010.

It also showed that the cost for interim director of finance, Terry Tonks, was £222,106 – working out at £1,194 a day for 158 days work – and £16,755 expenses.

The figure for interim director of human resources, Tracey Peters, was £115,491 – £663 a day for 174 days work – and £4,040 expenses.

Interim turnaround director, James Shillito, cost £110,712 – £1,230 a day for 90 days work – and £8,0802 expenses.

The quartet were brought in to save the hospital after it faced an estimated deficit of £7.4million by the year end.

The fees will eventually be higher for Mr Smith, Mr Tonks and Mrs Peters as their contracts extended beyond the financial year end and into this financial year.

The annual report – presented to members of the council of governors in Dorchester – also showed that consultants Ernst and Young were paid £349,608 and Price Waterhouse Coopers (PWC) were paid £420,571 to help turn around the struggling hospital. Governors were also told that the trust needed to save £20million over the next three years to bring it back to break even point and then into surplus.

The report also showed that the Monitor, which regulates hospital foundation trusts, assigned the trust a financial risk rating of one – the lowest in a scale of one to five – and a red governance rating at the end of the 2009 to 2010 financial year.

Trust chairman Jeffrey Ellwood insisted that the trust was moving forward and wanted to look ahead.

He stressed that the trust had reclaimed VAT for the interim directors and that fees were paid to agencies with the individual not necessarily receiving all of the amount.

The trust would have been able to claim £37,200 VAT for Smith, £33,315 for Mr Tonks, £17,323 for Mrs Peters and £16,606 for Mr Shillito.

Mr Ellwood insisted that the total for the directors would have only been £315,000 more than permanent executives would have cost anyway.

He said: “I understand that many people will view the cost of the interims as high and feel we should have tried to recruit a permanent team earlier.

“A comparison with the costs of permanent executives shows that the trust spent £315,000 more than permanent executives would have cost over the same period.

“I do not believe this is an excessive sum considering that under the leadership of the interims the trust has developed a recovery plan which now stands us in very good stead for tackling our financial challenges.”

He also pointed out that the trust had pegged back predicted deficits.

Its actual deficit for the 2009 to 2010 financial year was £5.1million compared with £7.4million.

The estimated deficit for 2010 to 2011 is now £3.5million instead of a previously predicted £12million.

But new director of finance and resources Bill Boa said that the trust would need to save about £20million overall in the coming two years to reach a break even point by 2012.

He said: “It is going to be hard for the trust – but I am really clear that the trust can get out of this.

“We have a good solid trust in a good position where there is a clear need for the hospital and we need to get to the point where we manage what we are doing well.”

Directors said that the savings are mostly to come from non-replacement of staff leaving and retiring – although essential employees would be replaced.

Savings are also to be made through efficiencies.

Mr Ellwood said: “We are currently concentrating on implementing a range of efficiency projects to enable us to make the best use of our resources and to ensure that our operational and clinical standards are in no way compromised.

“Examples include reducing the length of time patients have to stay in hospital, improving theatre efficiency and optimising the trust’s use of temporary staff.”

Derek Smith did not wish to comment.