There are vacancies for three Non-executive Directors (NED) and an Associate NED at East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust (ELHT). These are exceptional opportunities to share your talents and expertise to make a positive difference to the lives of people served by the Trust.

The Associate NED role is used successfully in the NHS to support Board succession strategy and achieving a balance of Board level skills. Associate NEDs cannot participate in any formal vote at Board. The successful candidate for the Associate role will be appointed by the Trust but may also be considered for appointment as a NED of the Board in future (within two years from initial appointment), should a vacancy arise and they have the appropriate skills.

One of the successful NEDs and the Associate NED will be appointed in the Autumn. The other two successful NEDs may start as Associate NEDs and will transition into substantive NED roles as the planned vacancies arise in February and June 2025.

Your values really matter to ELHT too; if you support and value public service, share their values and behaviours, believe you can champion the standards of public life and can show you have influenced beyond the sphere of your role, the Chair will value a discussion. ELHT would like to add to their Board leadership team the following knowledge, skills and life experiences, including:

• If you are a woman or younger person
• Are open about faith
• Understand or have experienced social deprivation and used this to influence positively
• Live with a disability
• Are openly L/G/B or T
• Know from experience the most effective leaders retain accountability, although ‘give away’ power to gain momentum, progress and wider impact
• Have a socially responsible role that would add value beyond that in the existing Board team

Essential criteria

You will need to have a genuine commitment to patients and the promotion of excellent health care services.  You will have senior level experience in one of the following areas:

• NED post 1: An understanding of and interest in healthcare, and a commitment to NHS principles and values, and the wider local community, health and social inequalities, working with partners to address wider community and population issues through service transformation and collaboration, with a strong track record of working across a range of stakeholders.
• NED post 2: Legal expertise, ideally gained working in a corporate or commercial environment. In addition, audit experience would be desirable.
• NED post 3 and Associate NED: Clinical and patient safety expertise gained from medical, nursing, allied disciplines or social care experience at a senior level in an academic, research, regulatory or clinically focused role.

As a future NHS leader, the successful candidate will be able to demonstrate that they meet the NHS leadership competency framework for board members (please see the information pack for the six domains). The competency domains are aligned to Our NHS People Promise, Our Leadership Way and the Seven Principles of Public Life (Nolan Principles).

The best boards are those that reflect the workforce and communities they serve. We particularly welcome applications from women, people from local black, Asian and minority ethnic communities, and people with disabilities, who we know are all under-represented in these important roles.

Applicants should live in or have strong connections with East Lancashire and surrounding areas.

Application documents

• ELHT NHS NED Info Pack N3151
• Monitoring form N3151

Key dates

*Applications should be sent to england.chairsandneds@nhs.net, quoting reference N3151

Find out more

• We strongly recommend an informal and confidential discussion with Shazad Sarwar, the Chair of the Trust. Please contact Michelle Connolly, Executive Manager on 01254 732801 or by emailing michelle.connolly@elht.nhs.uk
• NHS England – for general process enquiries contact Miriam Walker by emailing miriam.walker@nhs.net

Related content

• Support to prepare candidates to apply for a non-executive vacancy
• View all current chair and non-executive vacancies 
• Sign up to receive email alerts on the latest vacancies 
• Contact the Senior Appointments and Assessment Team