Comment on Kim Hodgson's departure

8.00.00pm GMT Mon 22nd Mar 2010

Speaking following the reporting by the Eastbourne Herald of the departure of Kim Hodgson, Chief Executive of the East Sussex Hospitals Trust, Nick Perry, the Lib Dem parliamentary candidate for Hastings & Rye said:

"As someone who works in mental health care locally, and who is only too aware of the pressure that colleagues are under to deliver efficiency savings, I am utterly gobsmacked to learn that the outgoing Chief Executive of the Hospitals Trust will be receiving a colossal severance payment, without, it seems, having to work a notice period.

"I think we have all had a gutful of seeing one rule for the little people and another one for the elite. It is happening from the highest levels of Government right down to the management of our local hospital facilities, and it has got to stop.

"I will be writing to the Trust Chair. The Trust needs to know that this payment is unacceptable in the current climate, and some serious questions need to be asked about the formulation of senior management contracts.

"This six figure sum would enable a generous subsidy for the car parking at the Conquest Hospital."