The trust in charge of the Whittington Hospital has appointed a new permanent chief executive in what’s being billed as “an important milestone”.

Whittington Health today announced Simon Pleydell, who has been acting as interim chief executive since the shock resignation of Dr Yi Mien Koh in March, would be taking the role permanently.

Chairman of the trust Steve Hitchins said: “Simon has been interim Trust chief executive for more than six months and I feel he is the right person to lead Whittington Health at this exciting time for our organisation.

“A new permanent chief executive marks an important milestone in Whittington Health’s journey.

“We will now be developing our five year strategy with a new permanent leadership team at the helm who will work with colleagues across the organisation, patients, partners and our community. This will culminate in a new vision for Whittington Health.”

Prior to joining Whittington Health, Mr Pleydell was chief executive at South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust for nine years and associate director at the NHS Confederation leading on innovation, improvement and change policy.

His arrival to the hospital in Archway coincided with the trust experiencing a “crisis” in stability at the top, with accusations of unrest among board members.

As well as keeping a stable team, one of Mr Pleydell’s biggest challenges will be to ensure the community is kept on side with any future plans for the trust and hospital.

Last year, a proposal to sell off hospital buildings under previous leadership sparked mass protests in the street and led to the trust undertaking an embarrassing U-turn.