A former nurse and midwife has taken over at the helm of the troubled Medway NHS Foundation Trust.

Lesley Dwyer takes over from Phil Barnes, who was appointed as acting chief executive in June last year.

The hospital, which was placed in special measures in July 2013, held interviews in October to find a replacement for Dr Barnes and the board were due to approve the chosen candidate at the beginning of November.

But there were delays when the trust failed to find anyone suitable.

Ms Dwyer joins from the West Moreton Hospital and Health Service in Queensland where she also served as chief executive and led the turnaround of a poorly performing health service into one of the highest performing.

Originally a nurse and midwife, she has more than 30 years experience across the public health system at senior leadership, strategic and operational levels.

Shena Winning, chairman of Medway NHS Foundation Trust chairman, led the appointment process.

She said: “We are delighted to have secured a chief executive of Lesley’s calibre. This appointment is crucial to the delivery of our plan that Medway will become a stable, sustainable and significant provider of care in Kent over the next five years delivering the high quality of care the people of Medway deserve.

“There are significant parallels between the hospital Lesley is currently at and Medway, they are similar sized organisations with very similar challenges. She took over West Moreton as a failing hospital and quickly turned it around financially and operationally and it is now a sustainable thriving service.

“We have undertaken a global search to secure the right person with a proven track record of turn-around success to lead our transformation and we look forward to welcoming Lesley to Medway.”

Since Mrs Winning was appointed in September, Medway hospital has replaced all of its executive board and embarked on an 18-month improvement plan which will now be led by Ms Dwyer.

Dr Barnes will remain at the trust as medical director.