THE new chief executive of NHS England is spending his first day in the job in the North-East today, where he started his career 26 years ago.

Simon Stevens was an assistant general manager at Shotley Bridge Hospital back in 1988 before rising to become the special health advisor to the Blair Government between 1999 and 2003, a time of massive investment in the Health Service and an increasing willingness to use the private sector to support the NHS.

Now appointed by the Coalition Government to head the NHS in England he faces a daunting task to modernise the Health Service at a time when finances are incredibly tight and demand is growing.

Mr Stevens - once a Labour councillor in Brixton - is due to meet patients and nurses at his old hospital before visiting Consett Medical Centre, a GP surgery which has extended its opening hours into the evening and weekend.

The new NHS boss, who joined the Health Service from a major private health care firm in America, will then travel to South Shields, one of 14 new national integration pioneers - where the NHS and the local council and voluntary groups are working with patients to help them take more control of their own health.

He will end his day in the region with a visit to the International Centre for Life in Newcastle, where he will see how the NHS is supporting breakthrough medical research.

Mr Stevens, who has decided to take a ten per cent pay cut in his first year to reflect the financial pressures the NHS is facing, is due to give his first major speech to an audience of around 300 NHS staff, health professionals, researchers and public service leaders.