Sarah Jones
Chair
Committee membership
Appointments and Remuneration Committee (Chair), Charitable Funds Committee (Chair), Council of Governors and Board to Council (Chair), and Nominations and Remuneration Committee (Chair).
External Appointments
None
Qualifications
Diploma in Company Direction
Master’s in Business Administration
Undergraduate Degree in Business Management and Administration Economics
Previous experience
Sarah was appointed to the Chair role at Airedale NHS Foundation Trust on 1 February 2026 and from 1 March 2026 as Interim Chair in Common with Bradford District Care NHS Foundation Trust, having previously been Chair at Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Sarah continues to be the substantive Chair with Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, albeit she has stepped away from her day-to-day involvement with that Trust.
Before joining Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Sarah was previously Chair at Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust. Under her leadership in Sheffield, the Trust grew both in scale and the services it offers. She had overseen significant investment including a new hospital development and the installation of a helipad.
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.
Sarah is the Green Champion for our Trust and chair’s the Appointments and Remuneration Committee and Charitable Funds Committee and is also a member of the Trust’s Nomination and Remuneration Committee.
Role of the Chair
The Chair of a Trust Board is a non-executive appointment, accountable to the Secretary of State for Health for giving leadership to the Board and ensuring that it fulfils its full responsibilities. The Chair is responsible for ensuring:
· delivery of the strategy and ensure value for money.
· supervising the chief executive for delivering the strategy and performance.
· responsible for assuring that risks to the Trust and the public are managed and mitigated effectively.
· providing efficient and effective healthcare.
· maintaining financial viability.
· promoting the highest standards of ethics, integrity, probity, and corporate governance throughout the organisation and particularly on the board to meet legal and contractual obligations.
In their role as an ambassador, leading in developing relationships and partnership working, the chair is responsible for:
· representing the organisation externally, developing and facilitating strong partnerships, and promoting collaborative, whole system working through engagement with key partners across public, private, and voluntary sectors, patients and the public, staff etc.
The Chair works with the Chief Executive to ensure that the Board maintains its capacity and is continually developed in order to ensure it has ‘balance, completeness and appropriateness’ in the context of a changing NHS and wider healthcare environment. In support of these responsibilities a key part of the Chair role is a focus on the collaboration agenda, system leadership and partnership working.
