A healthcare trust has defended paying its boss one of the highest salaries in the UK.

Stuart Welling, chief executive of Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust, took home the fifth-highest wage of any NHS head last year.

Figures reveal Mr Welling earned £145,000 in the year to last March as head of Brighton Healthcare.

From April 1, 2002, the trust merged with the Princess Royal in Haywards Heath to create the new, larger body. His salary since the merger has not been disclosed.

However, a spokesman for the trust insisted Mr Welling was worth every penny.

He said: "It is a lot of money but that salary was being paid while he was in the middle of one of the biggest mergers in healthcare in the country.

"It was already one of the biggest trusts on the South Coast.

"In the last year, he turned the trust from a no-star trust to a two-star trust and we secured the next stage in getting a new medical school.

"Stuart is accountable for every single action that goes on in the trust. He has been a chief executive for ten years and we are lucky to have somebody of his calibre."

The spokesman added the figure reported included pension contributions.

One in three NHS bosses in the country earns in excess of £100,000 annually, according to analysts Incomes Data Services.

Mr Welling's salary was only beaten by his peers at Guy's and St Thomas and University College, London, Leeds Teaching Hospitals and Cardiff and Vale.

According to the report, the average salary of NHS trust chief executives was £92,500 in March last year.

However, the analysts said changes in accounting procedures meant trusts were no longer obliged to give precise figures.

Instead, information on salaries is presented in £5,000 bands in line with private sector practice.

In addition, many executives are using provisions in the Data Protection Act to withhold information about their salaries.

The Department of Health said it was in favour of making salaries public and was seeking legal advice on the matter.

More than a million NHS workers are considering a new pay deal increasing salaries by at least ten per cent over the next three years. Last year, nurses were awarded a 3.7 per cent pay rise.

Ministers say they do not want the extra billions promised for the NHS over the next few years to be swallowed up by higher salaries.

A Department of Health spokesman said: "It is a matter of principle that those paid from the public purse should expect to be completely open and transparent about how much they are paid - and all NHS managers should act accordingly."

Gill Morgan, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, which represents health service managers, said: "We believe that transparency in senior management pay is an important principle. The NHS has nothing to hide.

"These figures reflect the management challenges faced by trusts."