Welcome to our Board
The Board is accountable for our vision, strategy, operational management, and financial decisions. We have a unitary Board which consists of fifteen Board Members including the Chair, seven voting Non -Executive Directors, and seven voting Executive Directors.
Executive Directors
Our Executive Directors are responsible for the day to day management of the Trust and are also part of the Board. They are lead by the Chief Executive.
Non-Executive Directors
Non-Executive Directors ensure that the Board acts in the best interests of our patients and community. They are appointed based on thier skill and experience for a specific term.
Trust Chair
The Trust Chair, who is a Non-Executive Director holds a dual role as Chair of the Board of Directors as well as the Council of Governors. This means that the Chair is responsible for leading both the Board and the Council of Governors to ensure that they are working together effectively.
Additionally, the Board also includes a Deputy Chair who deputises for the Chair when appropriate and a Senior Independent Director (SID) who is appointed by the Board made in consultation with the Council of Governors. The SID should act as the point of contact with the Board of Directors if Governors have concerns which approaches through normal channels have failed to resolve or for which such approaches are inappropriate. The SID may also act as the point of contact with the Board for Governors when they discuss for example the Chair's performance.
The Board works closely with our Council of Governors who represents the views of our local community.
Contacting the Board
All Board members may be contacted via the Corporate Governance Team via Corporate.meeting@swast.nhs.uk, South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust, Abbey Court, Eagle Way, Exeter, EX2 7HY.
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Sarah James
Non-Executive Director
Sarah joined the SWASFT Board in May 2023. She is a Chartered Public Finance Accountant who has spent 35 years working in the NHS. Sarah has previously held Executive Finance Director positions at Yeovil District Hospital NHS
Foundation Trust and at Bath and North East Somerset Clinical Commissioning Group, having joined the NHS as a finance trainee in 1987 and subsequently worked in a range of organisations and roles in the South West.
Areas of strength and focus include improving financial and corporate governance and delivering financial recovery. Sarah is passionate about delivering best value – using all our resources wisely and effectively to
provide the best possible care for patients – and about working together with colleagues and partners to achieve this.
Sarah is based in Somerset and her other activities include being a Trustee of RICE, a Bath-based charity operating in the field of dementia and other conditions of old age, and being treasurer for the South West branch of the Healthcare Financial Management Association.