Embattled NHS boss Sir David Nicholson plans to retire next year, with a pension pot worth almost £1.9 million.

The NHS England chief executive officer, whose basic salary is £211,000, will step down from his role next March.

Campaigners called for the under-fire boss to be sacked after the publication of the Francis report into serious failings at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust.

But instead of getting the axe, Sir David will walk away with a pension of at least £1,875,000 when he retires, according to NHS figures published in March last year.

Sir David, who has worked in the health service for 35 years, was in charge of the regional health authority responsible for Mid Staffordshire for a short period while patients were being mistreated.

Julie Bailey, from the campaign group Cure The NHS, said: "It is an obscene amount of money for failure.

"He will be able to enjoy the rest of his life, unlike us – we are left with memories of our loved ones suffering under his watch."

Despite calls for Sir David to lose his position, he received backing from Prime Minister David Cameron and Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt.

In March, he told MPs he was "absolutely determined" to stay in his job despite admitting failures over the Stafford Hospital scandal.

He was in charge of the regional health authority responsible for the hospital for 10 months between 2005 and 2006.

But he said the authority had "no idea" about the serious failures at the trust, where as many as 1200 patients could have died needlessly as a result of maltreatment and neglect. Patients were left lying in their own urine and excrement for days and forced to drink water from vases.