Meet our Board

The Trust Board has overall corporate responsibility for the running of the organisation.  The main role of the Trust Board is to guide the overall strategic direction of University Hospitals Bristol and Weston (UHBW) NHS Foundation Trust including planning for our current challenges and future priorities - ensuring that we can set and meet our objectives. 

University Hospitals Bristol and Weston 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 (used to be called Monitor).

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 Board of Governors and a Board of Directors. At UHBW we call our Board of Governors the "Council of Governors".

The Board is made up of directors, including the chief executive, who are full time senior staff, together with an independent lay chair and non-executive directors who hold part-time positions. 

The executive directors bring expertise from their positions in key areas of the Trust, while the chair and non-executive directors offer their skills and experience from a wide variety of roles in the community.

The key Committees that feed into Board can be seen here.

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

Following the merger of University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust and Weston Area Health NHS Trust, the University Hospitals Bristol Board members below now lead the merged organisation, University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust (UHBW). The start dates below are for University Hospitals Bristol, prior to merger.

Meet our Joint Chair and Interim Chief Executive

Joint 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.

• Start date: 1 June 2024
  
  

Interim Chief Executive: Professor Stuart Walker 

Professor Stuart Walker is an experienced NHS Chief Medical Officer and previous Deputy 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 in Feb 2022 he 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 FT, and Chief Medical Officer at TSFT and Somerset Partnership FT. He was awarded the title of Honorary Professor by Cardiff University in 2021.

Stuart joined the Trust on 21 February 2022 as Chief Medical Officer and became Interim Chief Executive on 1st January 2024. 

Click here to find out about our UHBW Executive Directors and Non-executive Directors.