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Hospitals are putting up executive pay while cutting back on senior nurses, a Labour peer has claimed.

Baroness Kennedy of Cradley said it was a "worrying trend" and called for the Government to reverse it.

She said at question time in the House of Lords: "Since 2010 there has been a decrease of 4,000 senior nursing posts - modern matrons, ward sisters, specialist nurses - that we all recognise, and the Government recognises, as being universally critical to patient care."

She asked health minister Earl Howe: "Are you not worried that, on the one hand trusts are saving money by decreasing these senior nursing posts, yet on the other hand spending money by increasing pay of executive directors by 6%?

"What is the Government going to do about reversing this worrying trend and how is it going to tackle this dangerous loss of experience and skill in our NHS?"

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Lord Howe said that according to his figures the decrease of nurses in bands seven and eight was just over 3,000, but that was "more than made up for by the increase of over 7,500 nurses at bands five and six on the front line".

He said the figures on executive pay, which came from the Royal College of Nursing, should be looked at "with some caution".

"They have included exit packages for executive directors, but not nurses," he said.

"In fact the latest independent evidence shows that for the third year running there was no increase in median executive board pay, so I think it is important to compare like with like there.

"The figure of 6.1% as a rise for executive directors is not one we recognise."

He said the reduction in senior nurses was because "some organisations have reviewed their nursing staff structures to ensure they are delivering a good quality of care for patients".