Introduction from the Chair
Dear Candidate,
Thank you for your interest in the Non-Executive Director roles on the NHS England Board. You would be joining us at a pivotal moment, as we continue to evolve into a single, integrated organisation following our merger with NHS Digital and Health Education England. This transformation marks a significant step towards aligning workforce planning, digital innovation, and service delivery - ensuring that we are better positioned to meet the challenges and opportunities ahead.
The NHS faces a complex and demanding landscape. While we continue to recover from the pandemic’s impact, we must also respond to rising demand, workforce shortages, and economic pressures. Our focus remains on tackling waiting times, improving urgent and emergency care, and strengthening access to primary care - key areas highlighted in the recent Darzi Review. The NHS Long Term Plan remains central to our ambitions, driving improvement in key clinical areas such as mental health, maternity care, cancer, and cardiovascular health, while reducing health inequalities and enabling healthier, longer lives for all.
The creation of a single NHS England has brought together digital capability, workforce development, and national leadership under one roof. This integration allows us to harness data and technology to transform patient care, modernise our infrastructure, and plan for the NHS workforce of the future. Simultaneously, the 42 Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) are enabling local collaboration to deliver joined-up care and address the specific needs of their populations.
We must now bring pace and focus to these opportunities. The NHS must meet rising demand from an ageing population, ensure equitable access to care, and address deep-rooted health disparities. Our ability to deliver high-quality care while living within our financial means requires innovation, partnership, and bold leadership. Digital transformation, data-driven insights, and ongoing collaboration with Life Sciences will play a central role in achieving this.
The NHS remains defined by its founding principle: care that is accessible to all, free at the point of need. Delivering on this promise today requires a passionate, multi-skilled workforce and an unrelenting focus on the needs of patients. As a Board, we must support and empower our teams, while ensuring that NHS England remains accountable, effective, and forward-looking.
We are seeking individuals who share our commitment to improving health and care for all, who bring the skills and experience to contribute actively to the Board’s deliberations, and who are equally willing to engage with our staff and stakeholders across the system. Your insight and leadership will help us shape a sustainable and effective NHS for the future.
Thank you for considering this important opportunity. I look forward to meeting you as part of the process.
Richard Meddings
Chair of NHS England
Additional introductions
Sir Andrew Morris, Deputy Chair:
"It's been a real honour to be an active member of the
board which has shaped the strategic direction of one the world's largest
publicly funded health services. The NEDs have also brought a variety of skills
and experiences to complement those of the Executives to enhance the
operational performance of the NHS during a really challenging post pandemic
period."
Wol Kolade, Deputy Chair:
"It has been an extraordinary privilege being an NED on
the Board of NHSE. It is one of the key Arms Length Bodies within our
governmental system and plays a crucial role in our society. Over the past
nearly 7 years as a board member, we have faced into some immense health and
social economic challenges.
What has been rewarding is that many of my private
sector skills and experiences have been highly relevant and enabled me to
contribute at both a tactical and strategic level. The other element is of
course the board committee work where we get to go deeper and focus more on
critical issues such as Risk and Cyber Security; Digital and Data; the
Long-Term Workforce; Quality and Patient Safety.
Perhaps the most rewarding aspect of my time as an NED
is how much I have learnt from my fellow board colleagues, clinicians, and the
wider NHS workforce that I have been privileged to meet and work with."
Baroness Mary Watkins, Non-Executive Director:
"It is a privilege to contribute to debate and vision
for NHS England as a Non-Executive Director. A key part of the role is to
support the Executive Team in delivery on the 3 themes increasing community-based
services, preparing for increased digital delivery and prevention of ill
health. The time commitment is higher than I expected but worth it!"
Professor Sir Robert
Lechler, Non-Executive Director:
"It is a privilege to serve on the Board of NHSE,
particularly in the context of formulating a future model of healthcare with
the new government. The density of talent on the Board makes for highly
stimulating discussions of the major issues that confront us.
While the service is under unprecedented pressure,
there is enormous potential to position the NHS as one of the world’s leading
healthcare systems."
Appointment description
The primary role of NHS England’s Non-Executive Directors is, within a unitary Board, to assist in developing the strategy for NHS England, and then overseeing performance delivery.
Non-Executive Directors also play a part in representing NHS England externally, alongside the Chief Executive, the Chair and the wider Executive team.
The responsibilities of the Non-Executive Directors of NHS England are:
• working with the Chair and the Executive Board members to develop NHS England’s strategy to ensure that it fulfils its statutory responsibilities and delivers its mandate, meeting its targets and objectives, and ensuring that the Executive Team is held to account for doing so
• ensuring the board reinforces the values of the organisation by setting a high standard for ethics and responsible business, and by maintaining and enhancing NHS England’s reputation as an open and independent body, which puts the interests of the public and patients first
• contributing to the meetings of the Board, taking an active part in discussions, providing counsel, advice, challenge and support to the Executive Team; contributing to an environment of constructive debate on key issues in order to build consensus
• ensuring that the Executive Team develops and maintains strong working relationships with the Department of Health and Social Care, the other health arms-length bodies and other stakeholders
• promoting the Government’s health policy, with an understanding of the value of strategic communication and engagement
• contributing across a range of specific areas, including: setting and maintaining an appropriate clinical agenda for NHS England and ensuring appropriate resource is dedicated to preventing disease as well as treating disease; ensuring the board drives strong integration between health and care; ensuring the Board listens to the patient voice; ensuring appropriate financial controls are in place, and risks are managed accordingly; contributing to the change management agenda; ensuring focus on productivity; and ensuring that best practice is followed in all workforce and leadership policies and behaviour
• ensuring that the Executive Team is held to account for putting in place appropriate financial controls and ensuring compliance throughout the organisation
• ensuring the Executive Team is held to account for performance management across the major interfaces for patients with the service
• reducing waste and driving efficiencies to enable as much taxpayer’s money as possible is directed towards patient care
• ensure that the executive team have in place appropriate arrangements for the commissioning of primary care and complex specialist health services including delegation of these services where appropriate
Organisation description
NHS England (NHSE) shares responsibility with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care for promoting a comprehensive health system in England, for securing improvements in physical and mental health, and for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of ill-health.
NHS England is responsible for arranging the provision of health services and for more than £186 billion of funds.
The Government sets out its priorities for NHSE in a statutory mandate. The Secretary of State has a legal duty to keep NHSE’s performance against the mandate under review and publish an assessment of its overall performance annually.
The Government has decided that NHS England and the Department will increasingly work as ‘one team’ and this will be reflected in both the working practices of staff and the leadership expectations of the Chair and others. While the organisations will remain distinct legal entities, collaborative working will be the default approach.
This will support NHS England in its work to address both the near-term challenges of performance recovery and the longer-term challenges which will be the focus of the forthcoming Ten Year Plan.
The Secretary of State also delegates responsibility to NHSE for certain public health services – including for example, national immunisation programmes, cancer and non-cancer screening programmes, Child Health Information Services and public health services for adults and children in secure settings. Since October, additional public health functions were conferred upon NHSE following the abolition of Public Health England.
Board composition
Board meetings are mainly held in London.
NHS England
Wellington House,
133-155 Waterloo Rd,
London
SE1 8UG
Regulation of appointment
This post is regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments. For more information, please refer to the
Commissioner’s website 