Chair

Description

At Mid Yorkshire Teaching NHS Trust, we proudly serve over half a million people across North Kirklees and Wakefield, delivering high-quality acute and community healthcare where it matters most. From our three main hospitals—Pinderfields in Wakefield, Dewsbury, and Pontefract—to a wide range of community settings, including health centres, GP practices, clinics, and patients’ own homes, our care reaches deep into the heart of our communities.

With around 10,500 dedicated staff and an annual income over £900 million, we are a major local employer and a cornerstone of regional healthcare. Through strong partnerships with statutory and voluntary organisations, we work collaboratively to provide seamless, patient-centred services that make a real difference every day.

We are an improving Trust with a clear ambition: to deliver excellent patient experience every single time. At this challenging yet exciting moment, both for our organisation and for the wider health and care landscape, we are seeking to appoint a Chair to lead our open, committed and supportive Unitary Board.

Like many NHS organisations the Trust has experienced sustained operational, financial and workforce pressures. The Board has recognised and is addressing this, currently concluding the first phase of its clinical service review. This provides a blueprint for transformation of services over the next 10 years which, alongside the digital transformation programme, including a new electronic patient system being implemented in 2027, provides a challenging yet exciting opportunity for the Trust. The ambitious 3 year plan approved by the Board sets a clear route to sustainability. Transformation on this scale requires strong Board chairmanship. The new chair will need to be resilient, confident in leading a complex organisation through significant change, comfortable within the stakeholder landscape and able to lead a talented group of executive and non-executives at this critical time.

You will champion the Trust’s long‑term ambitions and support its role in addressing health inequalities and improving population health, while maintaining focus on safe, high‑quality delivery of services to the communities we serve.

This is a high‑profile and rewarding role, offering the opportunity to make a lasting impact on services, staff and communities.

We warmly encourage applications from people from the Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities, to improve the diversity of our board, ensuring we are reflective of the populations we serve.

For a confidential discussion please contact Robin Staveley or Emily Smith on Emily.smith@gatenbysanderson.com or Helen Barkham on helen.barkham@gatenbysanderson.com

The role description and person specification can be found on the microsite under Role of the NHS Board and Chair. 

Terms of appointment

The current remuneration for this role is £60,000 per annum.  

You will have considerable flexibility to decide how you manage the time needed to undertake this role.  On average, it will require 2 to 3 days a week, including preparation time away from the Trust, the occasional evening engagement and events designed to support your continuous development.

Applicants should live in or have strong connections with the area served by the Trust.

Given the significant public profile and responsibility members of NHS Boards hold, it is vital that those appointed inspire confidence of the public, patients and NHS staff at all times. NHS England makes a number of specific background checks to ensure that those we appoint are “fit and proper” people to hold these important roles. More information can be found on our website (click on link).