Cash-strapped hospitals bosses have defended paying its chief nurse more than £200,000 for just ten months work.

Jackie Ardley took home £206,500 from West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust, which oversees Watford General Hospital, over a ten month period.

Health chiefs called the 57-year-old’s role “pivotal” and her package "in line with market expectations".

The trust said: “The chief nurse role is pivotal within our organisation and Ms Ardley was responsible for the professional leadership of our 2,500 nurses, midwives and healthcare assistants.

“She was also director of infection, prevention and control and, with our medical director, had overall responsibility for the safety of patients in our hospitals.

“We consider the cost of the Ms Ardley’s appointment to be commensurate with the responsibilities of her role and in line with market expectations.”

At the time of Ms Ardley’s interim appointment, the trust had declared losses of £13.4million.

She was kept on by the trust in the post of director of governance and is still paid via an agency almost two years after her initial interim appointment.

This is despite NHS trusts being banned from paying managers off the payroll for more than six months.

The trust said it “had difficulty” hiring a full-time chief nurse, which resulted in two separate recruitment drives.

It added: “A decision was made to extend Ms Ardley’s employment with us to ensure we had continuity in this important board-level position.

“Following the appointment of a substantive chief nurse, Ms Ardley was appointed as interim director of governance, via an employment agency.

“This short-term role has been responsible for putting in place a range of important systems to ensure we provide our patients with safe, high quality care.”

The trust added Ms Ardley will leave the trust on Friday.

The Daily Mail today posted photos of Ms Ardley, who owns her own consultancy firm, “enjoying a luxurious trip” to Las Vegas, in which she is said to have taken a cruise in a limousine and met Boyz II Men after a concert.

The average salary for a registered nurse is about £23,000.