THE chief executive of Salisbury District Hospital has announced he is to retire early next year.

Peter Hill, 56, said the decision to step down had been the toughest of his career but that it was the "right time".

He first joined the hospital as a charge nurse 30 years ago, moving into general management in the late 1980s and overseeing the move of services up to the current district hospital site in 1993. He became director of corporate development in 1998 and director of operations in 2001 before being appointed permanently to the position of chief executive in January 2013.

In a message sent to all staff this morning, Mr Hill said: "It is a move I have been contemplating for some time, searching for the right moment, but now having spent 38 years in the NHS this seemed the right time to call it a day.

"Many of you will remember the challenges we were facing a few years ago with a lack of stability at chief executive level and I was asked to take up the role on an interim basis.

"In fact over several years, I had fulfilled the interim chief executive position more times than I care to remember, until finally I agreed to apply for, and be appointed to, the substantive position of chief executive - something I agreed to do for two years – that was four years ago.

"I am incredibly proud of what we have achieved over the years, whether it be the success of bringing the Salisbury General Infirmary, Newbridge Hospital and Odstock together on one site in 1993 or more recently securing the Community Services contract, which will provide more joined up care for our patients.

"So many of our achievements over all these years wouldn’t have been possible without your support and that of our local community.

"I am also proud to have led an organisation that puts our patients first, values our staff and sees itself as an integrated and important part of our local community.

"We have always punched above our weight and, in handing the reins over to a new chief executive, I have every confidence that our hospital will continue to thrive and provide the very best care that we can for our patients.

"I will stay in post until we appoint my successor and our chairman, Nick Marsden, will now start the recruitment process.

"It will be difficult for me to leave the organisation that I love. As I’ve said before Salisbury District Hospital is a very special place to work and I will miss the hospital and all of our staff that make our hospital what it is today. However, after 30 years’ loyal service to Salisbury I feel that this is the right time for me to retire and I know that our brilliant 4,000 strong team of staff will respond positively to my decision."

He told the Journal that when he started at the hospital he had "absolutely no idea" he would end up becoming its chief executive.

"I get people coming to me for career advice," he said, "but I'm probably not the right person to ask as I didn't have a career plan. I have always enjoyed what I have done and it's been a natural progression but if somebody had said to me back in 1986 when I first joined the hospital that I would become the chief executive, I would have laughed in their face.

"It is never something I aspired to do. I felt a duty to do it at the time because the organisation needed stability.

"I will miss the staff and patients - the people element is what I've always loved.

"It's been the toughest decision of my career but it's also the right decision.

"I have felt privileged to be part of this hospital for 30 years and to be its chief executive has been an absolute honour.

"I want to spend some time with my successor following their recruitment and that would then enable me to retire in February.

"I'm looking forward to taking time off - to have a bit of 'me time' over next spring and summer and then we will see. I have a number of ideas of things I want to pursue."

Mr Hill who will continue to live in Salisbury said his abiding memory throughout his time at the hospital would be the "brilliance" of hospital staff.

He said: "I always meet and greet new staff when they start and one of my messages is we are part of the community as opposed to being apart from the community and we must never forget that - we need to work at that everyday, being a friendly, responsible and professional patient-centred organisation."

Mr Hill qualified as a registered general nurse in 1982 and began as a charge nurse in the Theatre Recovery Unit at the old Salisbury Infirmary on New Year's Day in 1986.

Before coming to Salisbury, Mr Hill had worked on wards and intensive care units in London and Newcastle.