Thank you for your interest in joining Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) as a Non-Executive Director (NED). If you are searching for an immensely rewarding and challenging role then look no further.
We provide mental health and learning disability care for people across Norfolk and Suffolk. We are dedicated to providing high quality care with compassion, delivering many of the NHS services that are provided outside of hospital and in the community. We have clinical teams providing services in inpatient, community and primary care settings.
We serve a population of just over 1.6 million people and our biggest bases are at Hellesdon Hospital, Norwich, Wedgwood House, Bury St Edmunds and Woodlands Unit in Ipswich but our staff are based in more than 50 locations.
Our Trust has a workforce of over 5,000 hardworking, committed and dedicated staff, but we have struggled for many years to provide the quality of care that we would wish to, and our service users and carers deserve. There is however much to be proud of with positive signs of improvement. Our CQC rating improved in the most recent inspection report published in February 2023, moving from Inadequate to Requires Improvement and a rating of Good for Caring overall. Despite this, we know we have much more to do.
We know that we are at an early stage of our improvement and transformation journey and that whilst this is an indication we are able to change and improve our services, we still have much more to do. The creation of our five locality groups is a key step towards transforming the way in which we work and provide care to those who need us. Our new organisational structure will see our clinical teams working closely with partners at place level alongside strengthening clinical and professional leadership. We are also developing a clinical transformation programme alongside our partners to enhance the clinical outcomes and our service users experience as well as continuing to improve experience of care.
We have a cohesive, strong, and values driven unitary Board, led by our Chief Executive Caroline Donovan and our Chair, Zoë Billingham. We have a strong and vibrant Council of Governors who are unafraid to make constructive challenge.
We are striving to build ever stronger relationships with our partners across the Suffolk and North East Essex and the Norfolk and Waveney Integrated Care Systems (ICS) which will be key to our success. We are committed to embedding co-production and service user and carer engagement in everything we do. Our voluntary sector, health and care partners share our ambition and are investing in our improvement. There is much to do alongside our communities to tackle the wider determinants of health, including health inequalities, which have such an impact on people’s mental health and wellbeing.
Being a Non-Executive Director at NSFT
Those who join our Board as a NED will be passionate about the work we deliver and a champion for the best interests of our service users and carers. Sharing our values, you will enjoy building partnerships across the complex systems we work within, whilst listening to all our stakeholders to make sure we fully understand, and are able to respond to, the challenges and opportunities ahead.
In return we offer the opportunity to work with a progressive Board, to support the transformation of mental health services, turnround an underperforming organisation, be part of build a visionary, innovative, inclusive and caring place to work and receive services from. You will have the opportunity to work in partnership with, and build a network of colleagues in health, social care and the voluntary sector and shape the way in which the NHS is contributing to the health and wellbeing of the population across Norfolk and Suffolk.
The Opportunities
We have the need to recruit two Non-Executive Directors (NED).
NED
For the first NED role we are ideally seeking an individual with senior level leadership skills who understands being part of a unitary board and is able to demonstrate their capacity to absorb and understand health and social care policy, stakeholders, and governance requirements including an appreciation of the risks we manage in our services. Ideally you will bring experience of working across the voluntary or community sectors, but this is not essential.
NED (Clinical)
For the second NED we are looking for someone with board level clinical leadership skills across nursing, medical or the allied health professions to add expertise to our Quality and Safety Committee. Ideally this experience will be in mental health services.
The Trust is actively working towards a diverse, gender balanced and representative workforce and welcome and encourage applications from all parts of their communities. The Trust is working hard on a range of diversity issues and is making great progress; however they acknowledge that there is still much to do and the successful applicants together with the Board will provide senior leadership and support to the Trust to address the challenges faced by the sector. We are interested in hearing from individuals with a commitment to, and lived experience of, equality, diversity and inclusion and who bring experience of leading cultural change in person-centred environments.
For all roles you are very likely to live in or have connections with the communities which we serve.
Whilst NHS experience is not essential, the appointed individuals will bring relevant experience which they can translate effectively to our environment; and be able to demonstrate their capacity to absorb and understand health and social care policy, stakeholders, and governance requirements including an appreciation of the risks we manage in our services. You will demonstrate sound judgement and political acumen that will bring focus and a fresh perspective to our aims as a system partner within a significant public service organisation.
You will share responsibility with fellow Board members for setting the appropriate tone and culture of our organisation and will therefore have the highest standards of personal integrity with a clear understanding of, and alignment to, our values. You will need to be a strategic thinker who will understand the challenges of operating as part of a unitary Board. Politically astute, you will enjoy engaging and working collaboratively with internal and external stakeholders to ensure that NSFT delivers its priorities and works effectively with its system partners.
We want our Board to provide a broad spectrum of lived experience and are keen to attract candidates who can bring diverse perspectives. We welcome expressions of interest from the widest possible range of backgrounds, particularly those who are under-represented at Board level in the NHS.
If you would like to know more, please contact our executive search partners at GatenbySanderson:
Lucy Deane, Research Associate
E: lucy.deane@gatenbysanderson.com
T: +44 (0)7825 990 792
Julia St Clare, Consultant and Research Lead
E: julia.stclare@gatenbysanderson.com
T: +44 (0) 7807 631 564
Melanie Shearer, Partner
E: melanie.shearer@gatenbysanderson.com
T: +44 (0) 7785 616 548
Zoe Billingham, Chair
Rebecca Toye, Lead Governor