University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust, Non-executive Director & Associate Non-executive Director
There is a vacancy for a Non-executive Director (NED) and Associate NED at University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust. This is an exceptional opportunity to share your talents and expertise to make a positive difference to the lives of people served by the Trust. We are passionate about delivering the very best healthcare for our population, and we are looking for new non-executive directors to support our vision to provide excellent care, with compassion, wrapped around people’s individual needs
The Associate NED role is used successfully in the NHS to support Board succession strategy and achieving a balance of Board level skills. Whilst the Associate NEDs cannot participate in any formal vote at Board, they are very much involved with the formal Board discussion.
The intention is that, subject to performance, the successful candidate for the Associate role will be appointed as a NED of the Board upon the retirement of an existing NED in Autumn 2026.
Essential criteria
You will need to have a genuine commitment to patients and the promotion of excellent health care services. For both roles you will have excellent demonstratable senior level experience as follows:
- Shares our values as an organisation
- Previous NED and/or ED experience with a large and complex organisation
- Strong strategic capabilities
- Ideally, experience of operating in a highly regulated environment
- Capable of chairing sub-board meetings with credibility and effectiveness
- Strong inter-personal skills/relationships
- A strong connection with area served by the Trust
- In addition, for the first role a recognised financial qualification or equivalent experience at a senior level, ideally combined with commercial experience.
For the second role, a background in organisational development and experience of delivering innovative and transformational change at scale in an organisation of similar size and complexity as UHP
As a future NHS leader, the successful candidates will be able to demonstrate that they meet the NHS leadership competency framework for board members (please see the candidate information pack below 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 the area served by the Trust.
Application documents
Key dates
| Closing date for applications* | 5 February 2026 at 11:00 am |
| Interview date | Late February / Early March 2026 |
| Proposed start date | 6 April 2026 |
*Applications should be sent to england.chairsandneds@nhs.net, quoting reference s3535
Find out more
- We strongly recommend an informal and confidential discussion with James Brent, the Chair of the Trust. Please contact Zoe Duke on telephone number 01752 (4)39084 or email zoe.duke@nhs.net
- NHS England – for general process enquiries contact Helen Barlow by emailing helen.barlow2@nhs.net