Dr Sara Munro, appointed as board Trustee and Non-Executive Director

Dr Sara Munro, Chief Executive of Leeds and York Partnership NHS Trust, has been appointed as a Trustee and Non-Executive Director of the board at the Workforce Development Trust, incorporating Skills for Health, Skills for Justice, People 1st International and SFJ Awards.

As a not-for-profit organisation committed to the development of an improved and sustainable healthcare workforce across the UK, Sara joins a diverse board of members from across a broad
spectrum of public sector organisations who come together to inform, set out and direct the strategy to achieve this.

John Rogers, Chief Executive of The Workforce Development Trust group said: “We are delighted to welcome Sara to the Board. Sara’s drive to improve service delivery and patient care, not only at Leeds and York Partnership NHS Trust, but throughout health and social care provision across the entire Leeds and West Yorkshire region, very much aligns with our own ways of working. That is, developing the support which reflects the needs of the sectors we serve by involving service users, carers, communities, and staff in decision making.

“Our shared commitment to understanding how workforce challenges are impacting healthcare delivery, through our subsidiary Skills for Health, along with Sara’s extensive knowledge of what skills and resources are needed at a trust level to provide the right support at the right time, will help us further tailor our services to assist the NHS, both with the pandemic recovery, and long into the future.”

Starting her NHS career as a student nurse and agency nursing assistant, Sara became a registered mental health nurse, with her clinical work spent in inpatient mental health settings, whilst also completing a PhD looking at the impact of acute mental health nurse attitudes on service users experience of care. Prior to being appointed to her current CEO role in 2016, she was the Director of Quality and Nursing/Deputy CEO in Cumbria.

Sara’s influential direction is furthered with additional system leadership roles. In the West Yorkshire Integrated Care System, Sara is the senior responsible officer for mental health learning disability and autism collaborative, and she is the workforce lead for the ‘one Leeds workforce’ on behalf of health and care partners, which has established a pioneering health and care academy.

Sara said: “I am delighted to join Skills for Health as a Trustee because I see great opportunities to share both the ways we work at the trust with the ambitions we have for the Leeds health and care academy.

“Our workforce is our biggest asset – and our biggest risk if we don’t get it right. Now more than ever, the combined part that mental health and workforce development play in ensuring the sustainable delivery of services across our communities is integral to the future of health and care, and these are my two core passions. I am very much looking forward to contributing to the valuable work that the group do in supporting the diverse sectors they serve to improve their workforce, and in turn, people’s lives across the UK.”