PROFESSOR Tricia Hart has been appointed as the new chief executive of one of the region's biggest NHS trusts - South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

Prof Hart, who has been acting as the interim chief executive of South Tees since September 2012, will now take up the post on January 1 2013, after her appointment was approved at a Council of Governors meeting.

Welcoming the appointment, trust chairman Deborah Jenkins said: "She has a firm grasp of the current issues facing the trust and the wider health service and is the right person to continue to take us forward."

She joined the trust in April 2005 as director of nursing and patient safety after working at director level in several NHS organisations.

Prof Hart was appointed as the trust's deputy CEO in 2009 - the same year she won an NHS award for Inspirational leadership at the NHS Leadership Awards - and became a visiting professor at the University of Teesside in 2012.

She was also one of the assessors chosen by the barrister, Robert Francis QC, to work with him on the Mid Staffordshire Foundation Trust public inquiry.

Prof Hart said: "I am passionate about this trust and its special culture and while we have many challenges to face over the next few years, I know we have an excellent workforce which is dedicated to delivering a top quality service."

She succeeds Simon Pleydell, who announced in May he was stepping down after almost nine years.

The South Tees trust runs the James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough and the Friarage Hospital in Northallerton, North Yorkshire.