Nearly 8,000 NHS staff were paid a six-figure salary last year – with one in three earning more than the Prime Minister.
The generous payments show that the NHS's £20billion efficiency programme has done little to dent the inflated pay of many hospital managers and consultants.
Around 7,800 of health service bosses were paid more than £100,000 last year, of which around 2,600 earned more than David Cameron's £142,500 salary.
The highest-paid executive took home £340,000 - almost 16 times the pay of ward nurses who often get just £21,388 a year.
Meanwhile, 11 other high-flyers were paid in excess of £250,000 each and the true figure is likely to be far higher as dozens of hospitals trusts failed to respond to a Daily Telegraph survey.
Dr Peter Carter, chief executive of the Royal College of Nursing, said the six-figure salaries sent the 'wrong message' to front-line staff struggling to manage with the 'deep cuts'.
The numbers earning more than £100,000 has gone up over the past three years in almost half of the 75 trusts questioned.
In some parts of England, the number of high-earners has risen by more than 50 per cent while services have been slashed.
Some of the highest-paid members of staff were employed by the very hospitals embroiled in the patient care scandals, while some others are in serious financial trouble.
These include Basildon and Thurrock, Buckinghamshire Healthcare, Burton Hospitals, Colchester Hospital, East Lancashire Hospitals and North Cumbria, which between them have 274 staff on six-figure salaries.
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Southampton Trust was found to have 384 members of staff on six-figure salaries. Last year, however, the Care Quality Commission reported that its shortage of nurses were 'placing patients at risk.'
The figures do not include salaries of GPs, the vast majority of whom earn more than £100,000 a year.
Figures show 2,600 NHS workers earn more than Prime Minister David Cameron, pictured centre in the House of Commons
Dr Carter added that over-worked staff 'often feel undervalued, especially if senior NHS staff are not experiencing the same pay restraints.'
At Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust, which is being investigated by police after the deaths of a number of babies, 121 staff are paid more than £100,000.
Tony Halsall, the trust's former chief executive who resigned in February last year, was given a £225,000 pay-off. A spokesman said that pay was 'in line' with other NHS trusts.
David Cameron's official spokesman told reporters: 'The first thing I would say about this issue is under this government you are seeing the number of managers coming down and the number of professionally qualified clinical staff working in the NHS up.'The government's entire approach to the health service is around improving outcomes for patients and their families.'