The troubled health trust which runs Whipps Cross Hospital in Leytonstone has announced its vice-chair will take on the role of chairman next month. 

The NHS Trust Development Authority (NTDA) has temporarily appointed vice-chairman and senior independent director Philip Wright to take over from Sir Stephen O' Brien, who announced his resignation last week. 

Mr O'Brien, who has led the board of England's largest trust for three years, is stepping down at the end of the month because he feels "it is the right time to hand over to a successor and focus on other interests, particularly in the field of mental health", a Barts spokeswoman said. 

Mr Wright, a retired partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers and current council member of Goldsmiths University, said: "I am pleased to take on the role of chair of Barts Health. 

"Our staff deliver great things across our hospitals every day, but there are also areas where we need to make significant improvements. 

"I am committed to working with the Board, the Executive team, staff and partners to raise standards and ensure that we deliver excellent care and treatment for all our patients." 

He will take up the position on April 1 while the NTDA undertakes a recruitment process to identify a permanent chair for the Trust.

The Leytonstone hospital made headlines this week after a damning Care Quality Commission report found widespread failings and judged the majority of care services as inadequate. 

Inspectors who visited in November also discovered a culture of bullying and harassment of staff by management. 

Barts Health was placed under special measures.

Speaking in Parliament yesterday, shadow health secretary Andy Burnham told the house there was a catalogue of serious incidents before it was placed into special measures on Tuesday. 

He revealed there were 208 serious incidents at the hospital in the last year alone, and warned the ever-increasing bill for agency staff at the Trust has increased by 44 per cent over the past 12 months. 

Waltham Forest council, the borough's Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and MP Iain Duncan Smith said they had all shared and raised their concerns of patients' safety for some time.