Dear candidate,
I recently joined Asthma + Lung UK as CEO as I saw the burning need for change in a terribly overlooked area of health need, and a real opportunity to make an impact in the next few years.
We need to drive transformation in lung health and outcomes for those with lung conditions. Lung disease is currently the third most common cause of death, costing the NHS more than £9 billion every year. We have the worst outcomes in Europe and the biggest gaps in health equity of all the major conditions. Lung health needs to be at the top of the health agenda.
To continue to meet the needs of those affected by lung conditions, we need to grow as an organisation – both in terms of the work that delivers life-changing impacts, and the income that supports this.
We are entering an exciting new phase for the charity as it emerges from a period of formation following a merger in 2020. To deliver the impact we need, we must have a strong infrastructure to support our delivery. We have already invested in new technology but we need to extract the value from that investment. We have a passionate and dedicated staff and we need to enable them to achieve their best with new ways of working and skillsets. Our financial leadership is strong and they are taking forward an agenda to bring in a new finance system and framework around activity based planning. We want to enable much better insight into our impact using data but we have a lot to do to achieve maturity in this area. And as we bed down as a united charity, we need to ensure our governance is effective and efficient.
We are well-placed to build a culture based on team work and a drive to deliver. We need to deliver a step change that is now urgently overdue. I am personally excited to work with an ambitious individual who will bring their own passion for what we do, and galvanise our fantastic team, who are equally committed as I am to making a difference.
If you are looking to make a real difference, I encourage you to join us and look forward to hearing from you!
Sarah Sleet
CEO, Asthma + Lung UK