A NEW chairman has finally been appointed to run the trust behind troubled Colchester General Hospital.

Alan Rose, 58, has been unveiled to take up the post from April 1 for three years. He will be paid £45,000 a year for three days’ work a week.

He is currently non-executive director of York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.

Mr Rose said: “I feel privileged to be given the opportunity to help the Colchester trust to regain the confidence of the communities it serves and that of the stakeholders in health and social care, whom I am sure also wish to see this.

“The coming months and years will be challenging for all concerned due to the incessant pressures the health service is under, but I am confident the staff of the trust, backed by the huge support I sense the community still maintains in it, will provide the foundation for a new phase of good care and patient experience.”

Mr Rose will succeed Peter Wilson, a non-executive director of the Colchester trust since May 2011, who has been its acting chairman since October 1 after Dr Sally Irvine stood down following more than four years at the helm.

His main role will be to lead the the trust’s board of directors and council of governors.

Mr Rose led the York trust through a complex programme of development, taking it from a relatively modest district general hospital with a revenue of £200m to a group of 10 hospitals with an annual revenue of £450m.

Under his leadership, the York Board of Directors was awarded the title of “NHS Board of the Year” by the NHS Leadership Academy in December 2012.