About this role
Job summary
As the UK's leading heart and lung hospital, Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust occupies a unique and special place in the NHS with our complexity and impact far exceeding our scale. From our state-of-the-art building on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, one of the world's largest centres of healthcare research and delivery, we offer heart and lung services, with an extensive range of specialist services provided nowhere else in the UK. With an international reputation for excellence in research and innovation, we are a member of Cambridge University Health Partners and are building The Heart and Lung Research Institute in partnership with the University of Cambridge. We are also a critical part of the Cambridge and Peterborough Integrated Care System and recognise the important role we can play in tacking health inequalities and maximise the opportunities created by the research and innovation work that takes place in our region.
As a Board member, you will work alongside Executive and Non-executive Director colleagues to constructively challenge and support the development of proposals on strategies, scrutinise the performance of management in meeting agreed goals and satisfy yourself that financial controls and systems for risk management are robust and effective.
You will be expected to be available for around 3 days a month, however during the first few months you may well need to spend more time building up knowledge of our services.
Main duties of the job
We are seeking a compassionate leader with a genuine commitment to patients and the promotion of excellent health care services. Relevant senior leadership experience in the private, public, or voluntary sector and a good understanding of the workings of the NHS, and in particular NHS Foundation Trusts, is essential.
In order to ensure that we draw on the full range of relevant perspectives and align our board with our strategic aims, we are specifically inviting interest from those with finance and audit background for this role. Recent and relevant financial experience and a relevant UK finance qualification is essential for this role.
We appreciate that people might have skills or experience which could make a constructive contribution to healthcare and the Trust, but which is not easily matched to our preferred criteria. If you have the experience and qualifications but don't obviously fit the specification but think you have relevant knowledge or aptitudes which could make a real difference, please consider getting in touch. We are always willing to consider capable people with a track record in their own walk of life.
Royal Papworth recognises that diverse boards make the best decisions, and we want our board to reflect the diversity of the population we serve and our workforce.
Interviews will be held at Royal Papworth Hospital, Cambridge Biomedical Campus on Wednesday 22nd July 2026.
About us
Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is the UK's leading heart and lung hospital, delivering care to more than 50,000 patients a year in its new state-of-the-art hospital in Cambridge. We perform the most heart and/or lung transplants in the UK and carried out the UK's first successful heart transplant in 1979. It also offers emergency heart attack treatment, sleep centre care and is one of just five centres nationally for those in severe respiratory failure.
Based on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus the largest centre of medical research and health science in Europe the Trust is at the heart of treatments of the future. Royal Papworth became the first hospital trust in the country to be rated outstanding in all five areas assessed by the Care Quality Commission - a rating it still holds today. The Trust holds its values of compassion, excellence & collaboration at its core, and all colleagues joining the team are expected to uphold these in their day-to-day roles & interactions. Royal Papworth is proud of its diverse workforce and encourages people to embrace their individuality.
The Trust values difference and welcomes all applications irrespective of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy & maternity, race, religion & belief, sex and sexual orientation. Providing they meet the minimum post criteria, applicants with disabilities will be offered an interview.
For a street view tour: https://royalpapworth.nhs.uk/virtual-tour
Job description Job responsibilities On this page you will find a Role Profile which provides information about the hospital and full details about the role. We recommend that you review this and refer to it as you complete your application. Please include how you will meet the Trust Values Compassion, Excellence and Collaboration. If you would like more information about the role or working at Royal Papworth Hospital, please get in touch with the contact for this role.
Person Specification
Qualifications Essential
Non Applicable Please see attached the NED Candidate Pack and the main duties on the advert
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.
Employer details Employer name Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Address Royal Papworth Hospital
Papworth Road
Cambridge Bio Medical Campus
Cambridge
CB2 0AY
United Kingdom
Employer's website https://royalpapworth.nhs.uk/working-here (Opens in a new tab)