A health chief was yesterday celebrating ten years at the helm of a Teesside hospital.
Joan Rogers took charge of the former Hartlepool General Hospital on September 1, 1993 in her second chief executive's role.
Now she is chief executive of North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Trust, following two mergers with neighbouring trusts
She said the trust's three star rating is the perfect present to mark ten years.
Mrs Rogers said: "I really didn't expect to last three months in the job when I first arrived and neither did some of the staff, but I can honestly say that it has been the happiest and most rewarding post of my life.
"I am privileged to have been part of an organisation that has grown into one of the highest quality health care providers in the country and am extremely proud of the trust's many members of staff who must take full credit for this achievement."
Durham University graduate Joan spent five years in the Army and completed a PhD before joining the NHS as a trainee manager in 1984.
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