THEY were the two women who joined hospital boss Phil Morley on a sunset cruise in Florida while NHS staff and patients were suffering savage cuts to health services.
But as doctors and nurses struggled to cope with multi- million-pound cutbacks, Amanda Pye and Jayne Adamson saw their salaries increase.
Financial records show Ms Pye, promoted from director of quality, safety and operational delivery to chief nurse during Phil Morley's reign, received an extra payment of between £30,000 and £35,000 under Mr Morley in 2011-2012.
Jayne Adamson, who joined the trust in 2011 from Scarborough and North East Yorkshire Healthcare Trust on a salary of about £105,000, was also given an extra payment of between £10,000 and £15,000.
Today, Ursula Vickerton, chair of the trust's audit committee, told how she was the whistleblower who called in auditors KPMG as concern grew among senior figures at the trust over unauthorised payments made to staff, credit card bills and remuneration packages.
Mrs Vickerton, who is standing down from her position on the audit committee and as non-executive director on the trust board this week, said: "Various members of staff came to me with information, which I shared with the board chairman, Rob Deri and the non-executive directors.
"Rob Deri got some answers but didn't bottom it out. When it became clear to me the chairman wasn't going to do anything, I consulted some other directors and we instructed external auditors from KPMG to investigate."
Mrs Vickerton, a chartered accountant by profession with a background in financial investigations, was appointed a non-executive director and chairman of the trust's audit committee in December 2012.
By February this year, she had papers detailing credit card statements, remuneration packages and details of the unauthorised financial sweeteners passed onto her by staff as concerns over Mr Morley's handling of the trust mounted.
Alarmed, Mrs Vickerton contacted Mr Morley, whose own credit card bill was £50,000, including meals at fine dining restaurants and stays at luxury hotels.
She said: "It was very difficult. But it was what I felt I was required to do when you have an over-powerful chief executive. The audit chair has to step up if there are things that need to be looked at.
"If you took a stance that was in disagreement with his line, he would ridicule you."
Mrs Vickerton said she alerted the NTDA and called in KPMG when Mr Morley refused to give satisfactory answers.
"I could only do so much," she said. "I needed KPMG to look into matters further.
"The NTDA were aware of the step I was taking as I reported the issues to them. It was them who suggested I got external auditors."
Mrs Vickerton has praised the non-executive directors on the trust board after the NTDA review which was, only published two weeks ago despite the investigation being carried out in February, highlighted concerns over weak governance at the trust.
She said: "The non-executive directors have done their level best to sort it out with the help of the external auditors. We did what we needed to do.
"We did challenge things but if a chief executive chooses to withhold information, it is quite difficult to get beyond that.
"It is quite unfair to think the non-executive directors didn't challenge, didn't stand up and do the right thing, because we did."
Mrs Vickerton also praised the "vast majority" of the trust's 8,000 workers, who continued to care for patients and do their best while Mr Morley was in place.
She also said she had confidence in new chief executive Chris Long and the current team of directors and was satisfied stricter financial controls were now in place.
The trust has known the details of the KPMG report for months but has still not made it public, despite repeated requests from the Mail. Two weeks ago, details of the credit card statements, when members of staff, including Mr Morley, used 12 credit cards to spend £740,000 in just one year, were released.
However, the trust has still not published the full report, which is believed to include full details of the "golden hello" payments made to certain members of staff, remuneration and financial tenders.
Chris Long, the chief executive who replaced Mr Morley at Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust, said: "Our trust has traditionally struggled to attract both clinicians and senior managers with the right skills and experience, and continues to face these difficulties.
"The use of recruitment incentives is common across the NHS and is sometimes necessary to help organisations attract and retain the best candidates.
"A report prepared by KPMG, looking into a range of matters, including processes relating to recruitment and relocation expenditure, was commissioned earlier this year. We will provide a full response to the report's findings and the subsequent actions taken at the point it is published."
Pay risesAMANDA Pye's salary soared from about £55,000 in 2010-11, while she was director of quality, safety and operational delivery, to about £100,000 when she was promoted to chief operating officer after Mr Morley's arrival at the trust.
She also received an extra payment of between £30,000 and £35,000 the same year.
By the time she quit the trust once Mr Morley had left, Ms Pye was on a salary of about £145,000, almost three times her wages in 2010. She is now interim director of nursing at Liverpool Community Health NHS Trust.
In additional to the financial sweetener of between £10,000 and £15,000, Jayne Adamson joined the trust on a salary of about £105,000 in 2011. By the time Mr Morley left, she was earning between £135,000 and £140,000. Her job title had not changed. She has now been made redundant.
Mrs Olsen, who was originally on a salary of about £75,000 as chief nurse and chief operating officer in 2012-13, saw her salary more than double to around £155,000 when she became chief operating officer and deputy chief executive in 2013-14.
Mrs Olsen left the trust after Mr Morley's departure and is now chief operating officer at Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board in Bangor, Wales.
Financial records show Mr Morley – who rejected a salary of £190,000 when he joined the trust in October 2010 after claiming it was too high, to take a salary of £170,00 instead – saw his own wages increase to between £195,000 to £200,000 in his final year in charge.
He also received £31,400 "benefits in kind" during his time at the trust.
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