Rachael Jarvis – KHPeople

What is your role with King’s Health Partners? 

I work in the partnerships and programmes team in central King’s Health Partners.  I am currently working on accreditation and strategy development. I also work with King’s Clinical Academic Training Office and the Centre for Translational Medicine to support clinical academic trainees. My role also encompasses leading the professional development offer for our central staff, with input from an enthusiastic working group. 

You joined KHP at its inception in 2009 – what was your background and what inspired you to work with the team? 

My background was not in health, but in music. I was the academic registrar at a conservatorium in Melbourne. I was excited to work at King’s Health Partners, bringing my experience of higher education and then extending it to work closely with the NHS. It was a huge learning curve for me, but I was, and am still excited by the mission of King’s Health Partners. 

What has been your highlight of your time with KHP? 

Prior to my current role, I was the manager of the Education Academy, also in central King’s Health Partners. A highlight of my time was the 10 year celebration which was a great chance to highlight the huge amount of work taking place in education and training at all levels across our partnership and to especially celebrate the work we were leading on all from health professional students all the way to clinical academic trainees and staff. 

What has been the biggest changes since 2009? 

You know you have been around a long time when you’ve seen several changes in the NHS, but also since 2009, there have been major changes in the university sector – so never a dull moment. 

What benefits of working in partnership have you seen over the last 15 years?  

Partnership is the key. I have seen the benefits of working across all our organisations and now with the Health Innovation Network and Integrated Care System. We have all learnt from each other and in every case the results have been much better with input from a broad range of colleagues. Working with colleagues from various teams and organisations, I have always found people so generous with their skills and experience and the desire to improve everything we do. I have found this very inspiring. 

What is your one career top tip?  

Keep on learning. Seek out people you find inspiring and learn from them. Share back with colleagues all the things you have learnt, so the next group after you can benefit as well. I have always been so pleased to see more senior clinical academic trainees sharing their experience and providing guidance and advice for more junior colleagues. I think that learning culture is so important in any organisation, and I see it in abundance at King’s Health Partners. 

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