A former engineer who claims the NHS is great fun, has been appointed as the new chief executive of Oxfordshire's largest hospital trust.

Trevor Campbell-Davis

Trevor Campbell-Davis has only two years' experience as a manager within the health service, but will move to the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals -- one of the largest trusts in the UK -- later this summer. The former businessman already has a wealth of experience to help him tackle the severe financial problems faced by the ORH, which had £20m debts at the end of the last financial year. This forced former chief executive David Highton to resign.

Mr Campbell-Davis said: "This is my 20th year as a director in business, so I hope I have sufficient skills. But it's really quite different in the NHS and you need to learn how the health service works before you can use those skills.

"I have a background in finance and engineering and I hope what I can bring is a knowledge of some of the underlying principles of how business works and apply them in a hospital environment. I wouldn't have predicted 20 years ago that I'd be doing this, but it's great fun. I get frustrated with the NHS about one morning every month -- but it soon passes!"

He joined the NHS as chairman, at Parkside NHS Trust, London, in 1992, and at St Mary's Teaching Hospital, London, in 1998.