A hospital chief at the centre of a row over downgrading of services in Crawley will receive a £151,000 pay-off.

News of the cash for Isobel Gowan provoked fury today from campaigners who fought the move of major services from Crawley Hospital to Redhill.

It is the second large payout revealed this week for NHS executives directly concerned with controversial changes.

It was announced at the annual meeting of the Surrey and Sussex NHS Trust last night.

The exact nature of Mrs Gowan's departure last year was never revealed.

The trust refused to say whether she was sacked or had resigned as its chief executive.

Earlier this week it was announced Peter Catchpole, former chief executive of West Sussex Health Authority, would receive £359,000.

Simon Burgess, spokesman for the Crawley Hospital Campaign, said: "That makes up to £510,000 this week by my reckoning.

"That is an awful lot of operations, nurses, and ambulances."

Trust spokeswoman Lois Ames said the amount to Mrs Gowan was mostly made up of outstanding contract payments plus pension contributions.

She added: "It is policy not to comment on issues of staff contracts, whether they are chief executives or cleaners."

Earlier this week the Argus reported anger over Mr Catchpole's payout.

While he was in charge, the health authority decided to transfer major accident and emergency and maternity services from Crawley to the East Surrey Hospital at Redhill.

The move went ahead despite a fierce campaign to save services at Crawley.

The campaign condemned his "golden- handshake" as "an obscene waste of health service funds."

They claimed it could have been spent improving health services.