Chair recruitment

Dear Prospective Candidate, 

We are delighted that you are considering the role of Chair at Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust. 

This is a time of opportunity and transformation for our Trust. We serve diverse communities across Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Wiltshire, and Bath & North East Somerset, delivering high-quality mental health, community, and specialist services. Our mission is to improve lives through compassionate care, innovation, and collaboration—and we are proud of the dedication and professionalism of our staff and partners. 

Over the past year, Oxford Health has made significant strides:  

• We co-developed a new Experience and Involvement Strategy with patients, staff, and advocacy groups, strengthening how we listen, learn, and act on feedback to improve services. 

• We opened more high street walk-in Mental Health & Wellbeing Hubs in a number of town centres in Oxfordshire during 2024 making specialist care available at local level in collaboration with voluntary sector partners. 

• We jointly won the HSJ Award for ‘Best Pharmaceutical Partnership with the NHS’ for our work with partners on improving early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease which will improve outcomes for patients.  

• To support improvements in same-day urgent and emergency care developments, we launched the Same Day Care Single Point of Access. 

• Our collaboration with South Central Ambulance Service will help ensure appropriate triage for Urgent Community Response referrals. 

• The HSJ analysed the full results of the 2024 NHS staff survey, and we are pleased to report that Oxford Health featured in the top ten of mental health, learning disability and MH combined providers that won the highest recommendations from staff as a great place to work. 

• We launched our Green Plan 2025–2028, a bold roadmap to reduce carbon emissions and support the NHS Net Zero goals. This plan embeds sustainability across clinical care, estates, digital services, and procurement, ensuring we deliver climate-resilient healthcare for future generations. 

• Financially, the Trust ended the 2024/25 financial year with an adjusted operating surplus of £2.2m. 

• Overall, our services are rated as “good” by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) 

We are also proud of our strong and collaborative relationships with many partners including the VCSE sector, primary care, local authorities and acute provider trusts, which are central to our work in delivering the NHS 10-year plan and taking forward the neighborhood health agenda — bringing care closer to home and improving outcomes for the people we serve. 

Looking ahead, we are especially excited about the redevelopment of the Warneford Hospital site into Warneford Park—a visionary project that will create a new, fit-for-purpose mental health hospital, a world-class brain health research and innovation campus, and a new postgraduate medical college in partnership with the University of Oxford. This transformation will not only enhance care locally but also contribute to global advances in mental health treatment and research. 

Next year, we will also be celebrating a remarkable milestone: the 200th anniversary of providing mental health services from the Warneford Hospital site. As we honour this legacy, we are equally focused on shaping a future that reflects the evolving needs of our communities and the potential of modern healthcare. 

As Chair, you will play a central role in shaping our strategic direction, supporting our leadership team, and ensuring that our governance is inclusive, transparent, and accountable. You will work closely with our Council of Governors, helping us reflect the voices of patients, carers, staff, and the wider public in all that we do. 

We are seeking a leader who shares our values—caring, safe, excellent—and who brings integrity, strategic insight, and a collaborative spirit. Someone who can guide the Trust through the complexities of modern healthcare while remaining grounded in the needs of our communities. 

If you are inspired by the opportunity to lead with purpose and make a lasting impact, we warmly welcome your application. 

With best wishes,