Barbara Peacock, chair of Bolton Hospitals trust, will retire on 1 December.She was a member of Bolton health authority for more than a decade before becoming the first chair of the trust in 1993.

She has overseen many changes, including the transfer of all services from Bolton Royal Infirmary to the Royal Bolton Hospital site. Her husband, John, is also retiring after 33 years as a Bolton GP.

Sir Thomas Legg QC has been appointed chair of Hammersmith Hospitals trust in west London. He had a 36-year career in the civil service and was permanent secretary of the Lord Chancellor's Department before his retirement in 1998.

Margaret Serna has been appointed chief executive of Lincolnshire Ambulance and Health Transport Service trust. She has been doing the job in an acting capacity for the past six months, but first joined the trust in November 1998 as director of corporate development.

The director of North Cumbria health action zone, Sharon Ombler-Spain, is moving to the NHS Executive in Leeds to join a team focusing on supporting the modernisation agenda and looking at the new role of health authorities.

Dr Adrian Stokes has taken early retirement from the NHS Information Authority. He worked for the NHS for almost 20 years. Dr Stokes is becoming chief executive of CAT Limited, a consultancy, later this year. He is also chair of IST/-, part of the British Standards Institution.

Alan Hodgkinson has been appointed executive director, service delivery, for Harvest Housing Group, Manchester. He has been chief executive of the board of health in Guernsey for nine years.

Dame Margaret Seward is England's new chief dental officer, taking over from Robin Wild, who takes early retirement on 1 November. Dame Margaret was the first woman elected to the General Dental Council, its first woman president, the first woman president of the British Dental Association and first woman editor of the British Dental Journal. She is now the first woman chief dental officer.