IT has been a long goodbye for one of the longest-serving NHS chief executives, who has stepped down after 20 years.

Roger Browning chose not to have a big leaving presentation, but instead visited as many of Dorset HealthCare University NHS Foundation Trust’s 5,000 staff around Dorset.

“I bought them lunch or tea. It’s probably cost me a fortune, but it’s a small gesture for all the work they do and all the support they have given me over the years,” he explains.

Roger grew up in West Howe, Bournemouth, the youngest of four children whose mother was a struggling single parent.

He experienced being in a children’s home before he reached his teens and was only 14 when his mother died of cancer. His brother Frank gave up his career in the Royal Navy to support him.

After passing his A-levels, Roger felt he should get a job. He spotted an advertisement for an NHS management training scheme in the newspaper. He landed a place, gaining a diploma in health service management.

After working in acute general hospitals in London and the south, he returned to Dorset as deputy administrator at Poole Hospital, leaving to develop joint planning with local authorities.

The health authority decided to create a new management unit in East Dorset and in 1992, Roger became chief executive at Dorset HealthCare Trust, which now looks after mental health, learning disability and community health services for Bournemouth, Poole and the rest of the county.

Under his leadership, the trust has been one of the best performing in the country. Waiting times have been slashed, more services available, and money has been saved.

Roger built strong links with Bournemouth University.

The trust was awarded university status in 2010 and he was made an honorary doctor of education last year. Reflecting on how far he has come since his difficult childhood, he says: “I’ve never been ambitious – I just wanted to try and help other people not have the bureaucracy we had to cope with.

“That was really why I wanted to go into the health service. I wanted to break down the barriers and make it easier for people to access services, and make services more responsive to people’s needs.”

A member of Littledown Harriers and veteran of more than 30 marathons, he is rebuilding his fitness after surgery and hopes to take part in two races this year, the London Marathon and up a mountain in Switzerland.