Carole Heatly takes up the reins at WCH

Carole Heatly, the new chief exec of the trust which runs West Cumberland Hospital and the Cumberland Infirmary, has taken up her post more than a month early. She started work on Monday, even though she had not been due to take over until the end of October.

Ms Heatly's premature arrival is a result of her securing an earlier-than-anticipated release from her previous post, as chief executive of the Kingston Hospital in London. She has now taken over the position formerly held by Marie Burnham as chief executive of the North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust, previously the acute hospitals trust and will now oversee the running of the Acuute hospitals in both Whitehaven and Carlisle.

She is expected to spend the next few weeks getting to know the two hospitals and meeting her new team.

The source for this information is the Whitehaven News.