The deputy chief executive of West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust will be leaving to become chief executive of a trust in the capital.

Helen Brown's 30 year career in the NHS will see her returning to Whittington Health NHS Trust in north London from June.

Ms Brown's departure comes three months after West Hertfordshire's chief executive Christine Allen announced she will be retiring.

The outgoing deputy said on Whittington's website: "I am delighted to be coming back to Whittington Health. Having lived and worked in the area previously, I have always felt a connection to this trust.

"As someone who has championed integration in other organisations, I am really excited about the opportunity to work somewhere that is so far ahead and places such importance on integration and working with partners for the benefit of patients.

"I look forward to meeting more of the people who make Whittington Health such a great organisation."

A spokesperson for West Herts, which runs Watford General, St Albans City, and Hemel Hempstead hospitals, said: "We wish Helen well and will be very sorry to see her go. It is hard to sum up quite how much difference she has made in the eight years she has been with us.

"Her leadership on the redevelopment programme has been instrumental in helping us get to the position we are now in. She has strengthened our strategic approach and has steered many projects to success since joining the trust in 2014."

The trust says its director of strategy and integration, Clare Parker, will cover Helen’s remit on an interim basis from June.

An "exceptional" unnamed candidate has accepted the role of new chief executive at the trust to replace Ms Allen but details of the appointment are not being released at this time.