An MP is demanding an investigation into why a health trust responsible for the budgets of the NHS in East Sussex paid off a former director with a £243,000 golden handshake.

Lewes MP Norman Baker has written to the South East Coast Strategic Health Authority and to Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt to ask for an explanation.

The settlement was agreed last year by the Eastbourne Downs Primary Care Trust (PCT) before its merger with Sussex Downs and Weald PCT.

The senior director was not named as part of a confidentiality clause but Mr Baker said he was former director of public health Iheadi Onwukwe.

Dr Onwukwe joined the PCT in September 2003 and left in May 2005.

Mr Baker said he had worked for the trust for only a short period before being put on "gardening leave."

He said the payout, at a time when Eastbourne Downs PCT was £4.6m in debt, was a "grotesque waste of money".

"It's unbelievable that someone who was only in a post for three weeks should be paid nearly a quarter of a million pounds to go away," he said.

Nigerian-born Dr Onwukwe, 41, is believed to have left the £130,000 a year post following a dispute with a senior colleague and to now live in Wallington, Surrey.

The newly formed East Sussex Downs and Weald PCT is responsible for drawing up controversial proposals which could lead to cuts in services at Eastbourne District General Hospital as part of a major shake up of health services.

The Conquest in St Leonards, which comes under Hastings and Rother PCT, is also expecting cutbacks as part of the proposals, which will be outlined in a public consultation.

Campaigners fighting the cuts say they are being done to help the NHS claw back debts of millions of pounds and lives will be put at risk if facilities such as paediatrics and maternity are lost.

The payment was made in the same financial year as a £231,000 pay-off to Annette Sergeant, the former chief executive of East Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs hospitals in Eastbourne and St Leonards.

Mr Baker said the payout was disgraceful.

He said: "I find it amazing that a man can be appointed to work for an organisation and then continue being paid although he is no longer doing his job.

"I am also angry at how the details of this were squirrelled away and difficult to find.

"This is taxpayers money we are talking about and it needs a thorough investigation.

"It is unbelievable at a time when health services cuts are being made to think the NHS can throw away a quarter of a million pounds on a personal dispute."

In a statement, East Sussex Downs and Weald PCT said: "The payment was agreed by the board in accordance with NHS guidance.

"The PCT took advice from the Department of Health and its own solicitors through the process."