The chief executive of a troubled NHS trust has quit over "media attention".

Katrina Percy said "the effect ongoing personal media attention has had on staff and patients" had made her position as boss of Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust untenable.

Ms Percy had faced calls to quit after the trust was criticised over the way it investigated patient deaths.

An NHS England-commissioned probe found 272 of the 722 deaths over the last four years were dealt with properly.

Ms Percy, who was chief executive for nine years, said she "firmly believed" it was her responsibility to stay on to "oversee improvements" and was taking on a new role with Southern Health providing "strategic advice to local GP leaders".

She said she understood why "many will say I should have stepped down sooner given the very public concerns which have been raised in the past months".

A spokeswoman for the trust said Ms Percy's salary - which is quoted in the trust's annual report as between £180,000 and £190,000 - will remain the same when she moves to the advisory role.

In July, a BBC investigation found Southern Health had paid millions of pounds to companies owned by previous associates of Ms Percy.

One firm received more than £5m despite winning a contract valued at less than £300,000, while another was paid more than £500,000 without bidding at all.

Typical of civil service type people and those in charge of large organisations. Something goes wrong and they get unwanted attention. they get shoved into some obscure back office job but keep their pay.
In private industry they would have been shown the door with a boot up their backside

The chief executive who resigned as the head of a troubled mental health trust had a new £240,000-a-year job created for her, the BBC has learned.

She was the only candidate for it.

Trust Chairman Tim Smart, who has been in his post for four months, said it did not advertise the role but that the work the job entails "needed to be done", describing Ms Percy as "uniquely qualified".

Salary £180,000 and £190,000