A NEW chief executive and four new non-executive directors have been appointed to a trust that runs health services in Hereford.

David Rose has been appointed as the new chief executive of Hereford Hospitals NHS Trust, and has already spent time meeting with the trust's board and staff to share ideas and brainstorm.

Mr Rose, currently the executive director of service improvement and modernisation for the West Midlands South Strategic Health Authority, has worked for the National Health Service for more than a decade.

"He will join the trust in January and I look forward very much to working with him to advance the very challenging yet exciting agenda which we are about to embark," said Cessa Moore, chairwoman of the trust.

Mark Curtis, Caroline Brown, Councillor Sebastian Bowen, and Joanne Whitlock, all of Herefordshire, have also been appointed as the board's latest non-executive directors, and started at the beginning of this month.

"I am delighted that we have been able to recruit people who will bring such valued and varied skills to the board," added Ms Moore.

"We had 64 applications for the posts, and many candidates were extremely good."