A DOCTOR taking up a post as a health boss is to have a hands-on role in improving the lives of residents in Derwentside.

Dr Anne Low is the new director of public health for Derwentside Primary Care Trust (PCT). She will work four days a week for the trust, in partnership with Derwentside District Council and Durham County Council. And she will spend one day a week working in the district as a GP.

"I am excited about joining the Derwentside PCT team," she said.

"I very much look forward to supporting the PCT in delivering its vision of better health, better services and better lives in Derwentside."

The post involves working with PCT staff and community groups on health improvement programmes across the district to target health inequalities.

Dr Low has worked in public health medicine since 1989 and joins the trust after a spell as a consultant with Sunderland Teaching Primary Care Trust.

She has also spent time as an advisor on a European Commission-funded health programme in Namibia and spent six years as a medical officer in a mission hospital in Swaziland.

Wynn Griffiths, chief executive of the PCT, said: "I am extremely pleased that Anne has been appointed to this vital post."