One of the longest serving hospital chief executives in the North-East is about to step down.

Joan Rogers, chief executive of the North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Trust, is expected to take voluntary early retirement within the next few days.

Mrs Rogers, who has been associated with the Hartlepool hospital for more than 14 years, has been on sick leave since October last year. Her illness has left the two site trust without a chief executive at a difficult time.

Apart from applying for foundation status, trust officials have also had to work hard to reassure members of the public about the future of Hartlepool hospital.

As part of wide-reaching hospital rationalisation plans across County Durham and Teesside one of the most controversial options is to close the University Hospital of Hartlepool and the University Hospital of North Tees, in Stockton, and build a new, modern hospital serving both communities.

After running a major hospital on Tyneside, Mrs Rogers took over what was then Hartlepool General Hospital 14 years ago. She became head of the unified trust when the hospitals merged five years ago.

Last summer the North Tees and Hartlepool trust was allocated an extra £1m by the Government after it became one of only 10 hospital trusts in the country to retain its top three-star rating for the fourth year running.

trust chairman, Bryan Hanson, confirmed that negotiations between the trust and Mrs Rogers were at an advanced state. "We are hopefully expecting to resolve the issue you have raised within the next day or two. We have agreed to go our separate ways," he added.

Any new chief executive will have to deal with recommendations from Professor Ara Darzi, an NHS troubleshooter who has been asked to for his views on the best way forward.