Associate Non-Executive Director

East and North Hertfordshire Teaching NHS Trust; East Ham; On-site; GBP 20,000 - 32,000; Part time

Job summary

East and North Hertfordshire Teaching NHS Trust is inviting applications for an Associate Non-Executive Director. As a Board member you will contribute to governance, patient outcomes and organisational leadership during a period of transformation.

The role is suitable for senior clinicians with board-level experience; it emphasizes independent judgement, commitment to reducing inequalities, and working with patients, staff and partners.

Qualifications

• Senior clinician with leadership experience in acute/secondary care.
• Ability to provide independent clinical insight to Board decisions.
• Strong governance, risk and assurance understanding.

Responsibilities

• Serve as Associate NED with roles similar to NED but without voting at Board meetings.
• Potential progression to NED on the Board in future if a vacancy arises.
• Refer to information pack for further details.

Skills

Senior clinician

Clinical leadership

Independent judgement

Governance awareness

Education

Board-level leadership background

Job description

East and North Hertfordshire Teaching NHS Trust

Associate Non-Executive Director

The closing date is 19 November 2026

East and North Hertfordshire Teaching NHS Trust is currently looking for an Associate Non-Executive Director (ANED).

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 are increasing NED representation on the Board.

Main duties of the job

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.

About us

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.

Job responsibilities

The Associate NED role could be suitable for an experienced NED or someone who has not been a NED in the NHS before. Associate NEDs perform very similar roles to NEDs but cannot participate in formal votes at Board meetings.

The successful candidate may also be considered for appointment as a NED on the Board in future, should a vacancy arise for which they have the appropriate skills.

Please refer to the information pack for further details.

Experience, Skills, Knowledge and Behaviours

• A senior qualified clinician with current or recent professional as a nurse, midwife or AHP, with experience in clinical leadership and quality improvement preferably within an acute/ secondary care setting; and with the ability to bring independent clinical insight to Board-level decision making.
• Experience of operating at Board or equivalent senior leadership level in a complex organisation
• The ability to provide constructive challenge and independent judgement
• Strong understanding of governance, risk and assurance
• The ability to work collaboratively across organisational and system boundaries
• A commitment to improving patient outcomes, reducing inequalities and promoting inclusion
• Personal credibility, integrity and alignment with the Nolan Principles of Public Life.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

East and North Hertfordshire Teaching NHS Trust