Associate Non-Executive Director

We are looking for a Board colleague who is committed to working with our patients, staff, local communities, and system partners to bring about improvements in patient access, outcomes and experience, and so achieve better health outcomes and healthier life expectancies. Increasingly, this will require an individual who is able to think laterally and creatively to help us solve our patients' challenges and so start to tackle the health inequalities which exist in Hertfordshire. We are also actively working to achieve a more inclusive and representative workforce where diversity is actively valued and celebrated, and this is especially important at senior levels, including the Board.

As one of our new Board members, you will be joining East and North Hertfordshire Teaching NHS Trust at an incredibly exciting time. We were awarded Teaching Hospital status in April 2025 and became the host provider for the local place partnership in 2025 as well. The Trust was shortlisted for 2025 HSJ Trust of the Year and 2024 saw the Trust being one of the top five most improved Trusts in the country for staff survey results. In June 2026, we were delighted to appoint Martin Armstrong as our Chief Executive. Martin has been with the Trust for ten years and was previously our Deputy Chief Executive and Chief Finance Officer. We are focused on becoming an outstanding Trust with people-centred leadership supporting our 6,800 dedicated staff to provide high-quality, compassionate care to our patients. We continue to undergo significant cultural and organisational transformation and continue to embed a lean-based quality management system across the Trust. To help achieve these ambitions we, The Trust predominantly serves the population of East and North Hertfordshire and parts of south Bedfordshire, covering 600,000 people. A further 2 million people living in Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, Northwest London, and part of the Thames Valley are eligible for care at the Trust's Cancer Centre at Mount Vernon.

It is also expected that just under 17,000 new houses are planned to be built in the Trust's core catchment area by 2030, potentially leading to a further significant increase in our patient numbers.

The population is generally healthy and affluent compared to England averages, although there are some pockets of deprivation - most notably in parts of Cheshunt, Hatfield, Letchworth, Stevenage and Welwyn Garden City. Approximately 26,000 people across our system are living in areas that are considered the most deprived, based on national measures.

Black and minority ethnic groups (i.e. non-white British) currently make up approximately 10% of the population in east and north Hertfordshire and is forecast to increase in the coming years.

The birth rate is slightly lower than the England average, with the Trust's core catchment population forecast to rise by approximately 6% in the years to 2030.

The most significant growth is expected in people aged 65 and over (25%) and this age group is more likely to have the greatest impact in terms of health needs- with the over 85s population already higher than national averages and forecast to increase sharply by 2030.