Dorset County Hospital claims the appointment of a new director of operations will be key to the future of the hospital and that the salary advertised is needed to attract the right candidate.

A hospital spokesperson said: “This post is crucial to the future success of Dorset County Hospital.

“The director of operations will be accountable for the clinical, operational and financial performance of all frontline hospital services, and responsible for around 3,300 staff, providing care to more than 100,000 patients each year.

“It is vital that we attract an exceptional candidate with the right skills and leadership qualities to ensure we can continue to deliver high quality services for our patients in these tough economic times.

“This is not a new post. The Trust has always had a director of operations but following the departure of our last director of operations our director of nursing took on these extra responsibilities temporarily along with the deputy director of operations.

“The deputy director of operations has since left the trust and we are not replacing that post.

“With the appointment of our new permanent chief executive and director of finance we are in a more stable position and able to complete our new executive team with the appointment of the director of operations.”

In respect of the payment to Mr Wainwright the spokesman said: “The payment to the previous director of operations relates to a contractual payment in lieu of notice.”