Meet our Board

The Board of Directors has overall responsibility for governing and leading the organisation. Their main role is to guide the overall strategic direction of University Hospitals Bristol and Weston (UHBW) NHS Foundation Trust.

UHBW is an authorised Public Benefit Corporation as defined by the National Health Service Act 2006 and is regulated by the Independent Regulator of NHS Foundation Trusts known as NHS England.

As a Public Benefit Corporation, the Trust is required to comply with governance standards set out in the NHS Act, its Terms of Authorisation, the Foundation Trust Constitution, the Foundation Trust Code of Governance, and sundry other regulatory requirements.

The Trust is required to have a Council of Governors and a Board of Directors.

The Board is made up of directors, including the Chief Executive, who are full-time senior staff, together with an Independent Non-Executive Chair and Non-Executive Directors who hold part-time positions.

UHBW’s Chair, Chief Executive and Executive Directors are also the Chair, Chief Executive and Executive Directors of North Bristol NHS Trust (NBT), holding joint roles across the two organisations.

Meet our Executive Directors and Non-Executive Directors.

The Executive Directors bring expertise to key areas of the Trust and oversee the day-to-day operation of the organisation, while the Chair and Non-Executive Directors offer skills and experience from a wide variety of roles within the wider community. The Trust Chair has specific duties and responsibilities for the effective leadership of the Board, and creating the conditions necessary for overall board and individual director effectiveness. This includes the duty to lead effective governance at organisational level.

Since we formed Bristol NHS Group, UHBW’s Board meets in common with the Board of NBT, meaning that the Two Boards meet together at the same time and place, and have a shared agenda.

The Board's key functions are:

To set the vision and strategic direction for the Trust, define objectives, and agree plans for the Trust.
To monitor performance and ensure corrective action is taken where performance needs to be improved.
To ensure the Trust makes best use of the resources made available to us by the taxpayer.
To ensure high standards of corporate and quality governance so the services we provide are safe and of a high quality.

View the key committees that feed into our Board.

Key publications such as Annual Reports, our Constitution and our Registers of Interests can be found on our Reports and Publications page.

Group Chair: Ingrid Barker

A qualified social worker, Ingrid has over 25 years of NHS board level experience. This has included roles as Chair at Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust, Joint Chair of Gloucestershire Care Services NHS Trust and ²gether NHS Foundation Trust and as a Non-Executive Director of NHS Gloucestershire Primary Care Trust. She is also an active Governor at the University of Gloucestershire.

Ingrid’s drive and commitment to the provision of high-quality services, accessible to all, is evidenced in her national policy and service redevelopment roles, notably leading on the transformation of mental health services community provision. She was also a trustee and board member of NHS Providers between 2013 and 2021, elected to represent Community Trusts across England.

Ingrid started in her role as Group Chair on 1 June 2024.

Group Chief Executive: Maria Kane OBE

Maria Kane OBE was appointed as Joint Chief Executive of North Bristol NHS Trust (NBT) and University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust in July 2024. Prior to this she was Chief Executive of NBT from April 2021.

Maria previously worked as Chief Executive of North Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust from 2017 until 2021, as Chief Executive of Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health NHS Trust between 2007 and 2017, and as Executive Director at North West London Strategic Health Authority between 2002 and 2006. Maria has held a variety of senior roles in corporate and strategic development for the Royal College of Midwives, Medical Protection Society and the National Council of Voluntary Organisations.

In 2019, Maria was made an OBE for services to health care leadership over two decades, particularly in North London.

Maria is Chair of Bristol Health Partners, a member of the Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire Integrated Care Board, and sits on the board of Health Innovation West of England. She is also the South West representative for the NHS Genomics Board, and is the representative for the South West on the NHS Impact National Improvement Board.

Maria has previously been a trustee of Open Door, Umbrella Mental Health, and Young Minds, as well as an adviser to the Lullaby Trust and a special adviser to the Care Quality Commission. She was also chair of governors of a primary school for ten years.

Hospital Managing Director, UHBW: Professor Stuart Walker

Stuart is an experienced NHS Chief Medical Officer and previous Deputy Chief Executive and Interim Chief Executive. He has a background in a broad range of senior leadership positions and, as a prior cardiologist of 18 years standing, significant senior clinical experience.

Before coming to UHBW as Chief Medical Officer in February 2022, Stuart worked at Cardiff and Vale University Health Board as MD, Deputy CEO and then Interim CEO. He has also held prior executive, and senior leadership, roles in the English NHS for example as MD at Taunton and Somerset NHS Foundation Trust, and Chief Medical Officer at TSFT and Somerset Partnership FT. He was awarded the title of Honorary Professor by Cardiff University in 2021, and Honorary Visiting Professor by University of the West of England, Bristol in 2023.