Chief Operating Officer Lisa King looks back

Lisa King, Bristol Health Partners Chief Operating Officer, reflects on the highlights of the last year, including growing the core team, inspiring health partnerships elsewhere and helping our Health Integration Teams (HITs).

They say time flies when you’re having fun, so it’s a good sign that, for me, this year has certainly flown by. As we reflect on another exciting and successful year for Bristol Health Partners, I continue to feel privileged to be part of this unique collaboration.

In fact, my new role as Chief Operating Officer has renewed my passion for the work we do. There have been many highlights for me and, as always, our success is down to the incredible, passionate people across our health and care system, who strive to make a difference to the lives of people in our unique city region.

This year we have focussed our efforts on supporting our existing HITs, developing the model and a cadre of new HITs, alongside our Using Data Better workstream. Our reputation beyond the region continues to grow, with new health partnerships in other parts of the country basing their work on the partnership we have created. This is a clear testament to our success.

The HIT model continues to evolve and go from strength to strength. Bristol City Council will be leading a new HIT focussing on tackling Adverse Childhood Experiences and we have other new HITs in the pipeline, demonstrating the true value of collaboration.

Building on our talented core team has been another highlight for me. I feel proud to be part of such a determined, dedicated and skilled team of people. Welcoming Rhiannon Wilson and John Halliwell as new Project Managers has enabled us to extend invaluable project support across more of our HITs. They have both brought fresh and interesting perspectives to our work and we will be very sad to see them go, when their secondments come to an end later this year.

Amanda Owen-Smith from the University of Bristol has joined us through a Researcher in Residence Fellowship co-funded with Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire Clinical Commissioning Group (BNSSG CCG). Amanda is embedded in the CCG’s mental health team and we are excited to see this role develop in such an important area.

Our efforts to ensure that as a system we unlock the enormous potential in the data we collect across the city has reached new levels of ambition, with some exciting work in the pipeline for next year. Thank you and well done to Oliver Watson and John Kellas for their hard work, tenacity and ambition in this difficult environment. It is truly admirable.

And finally, I would like to take the opportunity to thank Professor David Wynick, Chair of our Executive Group, for his support and unwavering determination this year.

I very much look forward to what promises to be another exciting year ahead.