Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is pleased to announce the appointment of its new Chair, Sarah Jones.
Sarah joins the Trust from Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, where she has been the chair since 2016. She will take up the post on 4 March.
Under her leadership in Sheffield, the trust has grown both in scale and the services it offers. She has overseen significant investment including a new hospital development and the installation of a helipad which will be completed shortly.
Sarah said:
Being from Bradford, I am very proud to be joining the Bradford Teaching Hospitals team.
The greatest part of being a chair in the NHS is meeting colleagues and patients. I love engaging with people and hearing about their real-life experiences and ensuring their voice is heard by the Board.
In particular, I am really passionate about ensuring that colleagues have opportunities for skills’ development and progression. I believe that in the NHS we all strive to provide high quality care but I am also committed to the extra dimension of providing the very best experience of that care. I really want to focus on the needs of patients and their families.
Sarah is passionate about equality, diversity and inclusion and while at Sheffield supported the setup of the colleague network groups. She also has experience of working within the integrated care system.
While in South Yorkshire she chaired the Mental Health, Learning Disability and Autism Provider Collaborative, as well as being a member of the Acute Federation and Sheffield Health and Care Partnership and as a result, is looking forward to working in West Yorkshire and with the Bradford District and Craven Health and Care Partnership.
Sarah, who is also chair of Realise, an apprenticeship and adult skills training business, is a former pupil of Bradford Grammar School. She is married with a son and a daughter.
Lead Governor, Mark Chambers said:
The Council of Governors is pleased to have appointed Sarah from a hugely competitive field of candidates. Sarah brings a wealth of experience from her previous roles and demonstrates a real understanding for our Trust.
The governors look forward to working with Sarah, in her capacity as Chair of the Board and Council of Governors, building on where we are as a Trust and working together to continuously improve.
The Trust would like to take this opportunity to thank Helen Hirst, Interim Chair for all her support and hard work over the past months.