Job summary
- Main area
- Chair
- Grade
- NHS Non-Executive: NHS Trust Non-Executive Member/Director
- Contract
- Fixed term: 3 years (3 year term from contractual start date)
- Hours
- Part time - 22.5 hours per week
- Job ref
- 285-0983-CORP
- Employer
- Black Country Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Wolverhampton Civic Centre
- Town
- Wolverhampton
- Salary
- £40,000 - £50,000 Per annum
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 27/08/2025 23:59
Employer heading

Chair
NHS Non-Executive: NHS Trust Non-Executive Member/Director
Black Country Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust provides specialist mental health, learning disability, and community healthcare services for the population of the Black Country.
Across the whole of the region we provide:
- Adult and older adult mental health services
- Specialist learning disability services
- Mental health services for children and young people
- Community healthcare services for children, young people and families in Dudley
Black Country Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust was formed on 1 April 2020, with the merger of Black Country Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and Dudley and Walsall Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust. Combining resources, strategies and talented workforce enables us to deliver a wider variety of outstanding services that are based on best practice and are continually improving.
We currently employ over 4,000 people and just like the population we serve, we are made up of diverse cultures and backgrounds. Whatever your role, working in a NHS Foundation Trust, like ours, is a demanding and extremely rewarding experience. Knowing that every day you can help to make a positive difference to someone’s life is a very powerful feeling. We know that our Trust runs on this desire to help and support people, and our Trust vision expresses this. Our vision is to improve health and wellbeing for everyone, especially our colleagues to achieve the best possible work/life balance.
We proudly offer supportive, inclusive and family friendly employment and flexible working policies. We have a wide range of professional services and employee networks to help our colleagues be at their best - and find support if they need it. To find more about our staff benefits, please visit our website: blackcountryhealthcare.nhs.uk.
Don’t meet every single requirement? Studies have shown that women and ethnic minority candidates are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single qualification. At Black Country Healthcare we recognise and value all forms of knowledge and expertise, so if you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification or criteria in the job description/person specification, we encourage you to apply anyway. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.
For further supporting information to help you apply for this role please see documents attached under ‘Additional documents’.
Job overview
To carry out their role effectively, the chair must cultivate a strong, collaborative relationship with the chief executive. Many responsibilities in this role description will be discharged in partnership with the chief executive. It is important the chair and the chief executive are clear about their individual and shared roles, and their respective responsibilities towards the unitary board. Together, the chair and the chief executive set the tone for the whole organisation. They are ultimately responsible for ensuring that the population the trust serves and the wider system in which the organisation sits receive the best possible care in a sustainable way.
Main duties of the job
NHS boards play a key role in shaping the strategy, vision and purpose of an organisation. They hold the organisation to account for the delivery of strategy and ensure value for money. They are also responsible for assuring that risks to the organisation and the public are managed and mitigated effectively. Led by an independent chair and composed of a mixture of both executive and independent nonexecutive members, the board has a collective responsibility for the performance of the organisation. The Chair also ensures the Board is focused on improving outcomes in population health and healthcare, and fosters a culture of learning and continuous improvement, with a particular focus on quality, safety, access, patient experience.
The purpose of NHS boards is to govern effectively, and in so doing build patient, public and stakeholder confidence that their health and healthcare is in safe hands.
This fundamental accountability to the public and stakeholders is delivered by building confidence:
- in the quality and safety of health services
- that resources are invested in a way that delivers optimal health outcomes
- in the accessibility and responsiveness of health services
- that patients and the public can help to shape health services to meet their needs
- that public money is spent in a way that is fair, efficient, effective and economic.
Please see attached recruitment pack for more information
Working for our organisation
You will join the Trust at an exciting time. We have just reaffirmed our vision “together with you to achieve happier, healthier lives”. We have reset our values and in September 2025 we are looking to sign off 4 new strategic objectives at the Board, each of which will be underpinned by a small number of Board Level success measures.
The journey towards our new operating model will be underpinned by three multi-year programmes:
· Best for the Black Country – developing our people and our culture – to be our best for the communities we serve.
· Community-First – evolving our care model based on preventative and anti -racist principles – integrating care close to home, with access to high quality support in hospital if necessary
· Digital Transformation – Harnessing digital tools and innovation to enhance clinical outcomes and deliver more efficient person-centred care.
In 2025 we will also sign off our three core delivery strategies: our organisational strategy; our clinical strategy; and our financial strategy.
Your help in leading the Board will be essential around strategic thinking; ensuring accountability; corporate policy and supervision.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
The role combines the duty to lead effective governance, consistent with the Nolan principles and NHS values, with securing a long-term vision and strategy for the organisation. Fundamentally, the chair is responsible for the effective leadership of the board. They are pivotal in creating the conditions necessary for overall board and individual director effectiveness.
Person specification
Board Level Experience
Essential criteria
- Relevant Board level experience
Applicant requirements
This post will require a submission for Disclosure to be made to check for any unspent criminal convictions.
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Anna Tyas
- Job title
- Executive Assistant
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 07443 168101
- Additional information
Please get in touch if you would like any additional information or would like to meet with out interim Chair or CEO prior to application.
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