WORK to establish the new trust responsible for running a community hospital in a county town is well under way.

From April, Malvern’s community hospital will be run by Worcestershire Community and Mental Health Service Trust.

The decision to form this new organisation was taken by Worcestershire NHS in September, allaying concerns that responsibility would pass to Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust.

Hospital supporters feared this would have seen control and services stripped away from Malvern itself.

Paul Tuthill, Malvern Hills District Council’s representative on the county’s health overview and scrutiny committee, believes the transition will be seamless as far as patients are concerned.

He said: “They will not notice any change at all. Under this arrangement, everything should be very much business as usual.

“People were delighted when this was set up and it means that Malvern, and our other hospitals, can keep their autonomy and remain focused on the community.”

Coun Tuthill said one advantage of the new arrangement is that it would enable close working with local GP consortiums which are currently being set up.

On Tuesday, the Appointments Commission named Chris Burdon as chairman of the new trust.

Mr Burdon has been a non-executive director of NHS Worcestershire since December 2008 and chairman of its provider services board for the past 18 months.

He said shaping the new organisation would be an exciting challenge.

“We need to make sure we focus on doing everything possible to further improve services for our patients through an increased focus on quality and efficiency,” he said.