the client supports people with mental ill health, learning disabilities, and autism, with services across multiple counties. With a large workforce, the client is focused on delivering high-quality care and achieving strong outcomes through a culture grounded in kindness, professionalism, and respect. As the current Chair prepares to stand down, the client is seeking an exceptional successor to lead the Trust through its next phase, chairing the Board of a values-driven organization and championing innovation, tackling inequalities, and ensuring that service users and carers remain central to decision-making.
Working closely with the Chief Executive, the Chair will lead the Board and the Council of Governors, providing integrity, clarity, and momentum. The role sets the tone for a high-performing and inclusive governance culture, including thoughtful challenge, enabling constructive collaboration, and ensuring robust assurance across quality, safety, workforce, and finance. Externally, the Chair will serve as a visible and trusted ambassador, building influential relationships across the system with stakeholders that may include regulators, local authorities, system partners, and academic collaborators, while representing the voices of staff, patients, governors, service users, and carers.
The Chair should bring significant board-level experience, ideally in the NHS or the wider health and care system, either as a Chair or Non-Executive Director, though accomplished leaders from other person-centred sectors may also be considered where values-led leadership and clearly transferable governance experience are evidenced. The client is committed to belonging and inclusion and welcomes applications from people from the global majority and those who may not previously have considered a Chair role in the NHS, provided they share the organization’s values and bring insight, credibility, and compassion. The Chair’s leadership should be grounded in shared values, with calm authority and authentic engagement, the ability to lead through complexity and change, and a strong commitment to improving mental health and learning disability services by strengthening quality and safety, tackling inequalities, and listening to the voices of service users, carers, and staff.