Chair – Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust

Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust

Job summary

Chair – Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust | Remunerated for circa 3 days per week A Rare Opportunity of National Importance

Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust is one of the country’s most influential organisations working to improve the health of children and young people.

Sheffield Children’s has been dedicated to providing world class services to children and young people for 150 years; we provide a wide range of integrated healthcare, including community and mental health as well as acute and specialist services to patients locally, regionally, nationally and internationally, with an annual income of circa £350m.

We are rated ‘Good’ by the CQC and have many areas of outstanding practice upon which to build as we deliver our strategy ‘Caring Together’. We are proud of our history and achievements and remain ambitious to build on those foundations, determined to deliver even better care outcomes for the patients and families we serve in the future.

Main duties of the job

Following in Professor Laura Serrant’s footsteps, we are seeking to appoint another inspirational, values-driven Chair who will lead us into a new era. This is an exciting time for a new Chair to join us, as we open The Spark, home to the National Centre for Child Health Technology (NCCHT) at Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park with the opportunity for Sheffield Children’s to play an even greater role on local, regional and national platforms.

Our partnerships are strong at a local level and nationally. We also work very closely with Sheffield Children’s Hospital Charity to fund things that are over and above standard NHS provision.

Few Board Chair roles nationally will offer such an opportunity to influence the life chances of future generations of children and young people – not just in Sheffield and South Yorkshire, but nationally and internationally through our many specialist services with clinicians considered amongst the best in the world.

Person Specification

Values

Essential

  • A clear commitment to the NHS and the trust’s values and principles
  • Genuine desire and interest to create a healthier future for children and young people

Strategic

Essential

  • Experience of leading and delivering against long-term vision and strategy
  • Experience leading transformational change, managing complex organisations, budgets and people

People

Essential

  • Strong interpersonal, communication and leadership skills
  • Experience of building effective teams, encouraging change and innovation and shaping an open, inclusive and compassionate culture through setting the right tone at the top and championing diversity at, and across, all levels
  • Strongly focused on the experience of all colleagues and patients
  • Fully attentive towards issues of equality, diversity and inclusion

Professional acumen

Essential

  • Prior board experience (any sector, executive or non-executive role)
  • Evidence of successfully demonstrating the NHS provider chair competencies in other leadership roles
  • An ability to identify and address issues, including underperformance, and to scrutinise and challenge information effectively for assurance

Outcomes focus

Essential

  • A demonstrable interest in health and social care and a strong desire to achieve the best sustainable outcomes for all patients and service users through encouraging continuous improvement, clinical excellence and value for money
  • Strong understanding of financial management, with the ability to balance the competing objectives of quality, operational performance and finance
  • An appreciation of constitutional and regulatory NHS standards

Partnerships

Essential

  • A desire to engage with the local population and to collaborate with senior stakeholders across the health and care system
  • Experience managing conflict, finding compromise and building consensus across varied stakeholder groups with potentially conflicting priorities

Desirable skills, experience and attributes

Essential

  • Prior experience as a non-executive director (any sector)
  • Prior senior experience of complex organisations outside the NHS, ie private, voluntary or other public sector providers of similar scale

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see
NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).

Closing Date: 31 July 2026

To apply for this job please visit apps.trac.jobs.