King’s Health Partners designated as an Academic Health Sciences Centre

King’s Health Partners successful in designation as an Academic Health Sciences Centre for another five years.

On 1 April 2020, King’s Health Partners was re-designated as a National Institute for Health Research – NHS England/Improvement (NIHR-NHSE/I) Academic Health Sciences Centre (AHSC) for a further five years.

In Autumn 2019, NIHR-NHSE/I announced a new competition for AHSCs. With applications to be submitted in December 2019, and interviews with a King’s Health Partners panel in February 2020.

We have been working with our partners and local healthcare system to develop our next five-year strategy. This work builds on the strength of our last strategy - King’s Health Partners ‘Pioneering better health for all - Improving health and wellbeing Locally and globally 2014 – 2019’.

From 2020 - 2025, we will intensify our work on earlier detection, intervention and targeted prevention of disease through the use of new approaches working with our clinical academics.  

We will aim to deliver sustainable health improvements to our communities; focusing on prevention, with an emphasis on improving the health of our communities by tackling major risk factors for disease.

To do this we will continue to work with our education and training teams, to ensure our workforce is equipped for the future of modern healthcare, skilled in Mind & Body care, able to manage multiple conditions and the use of digital technologies and AI to deliver the best patient care.

We will also collaborate with health and industry partners to tackle the most significant health challenges in society.

Prof Sir Robert Lechler, former Executive Director, King’s Health Partners, at the time or this designation, said:

Thank you to everyone who helped us respond to the call to be re-designated as an AHSC. I am delighted we have been successful. Clinical academic research and endeavour, improving health and wellbeing by ensuring the very best research is put into clinical practice as quickly as possible, locally and globally, feels especially important now. Working as one team and coming together with shared purpose will help us to support each other, our teams and communities.

Our distinctive strengths provide the strong foundations for our future. Over the past 10 years we have pioneered better health for all by bringing world-class research, education and clinical practice together for the benefit of patients and our communities.

We have reduced the time it takes to translate research into outstanding patient care, discovered new insights into disease, and transformed the way we use data, diagnosis, new therapies, devices and digital tools.

Uniquely, we have joined up mental and physical healthcare to ensure our growing understanding of the brain can support patients who are struggling most. Our work in improving value sets us apart and we lead the field in the UK by publishing our health outcomes which helps us to reduce health inequalities.

Jill Lockett, Managing Director, King’s Health Partners, said:

We are a thriving AHSC and are delighted that we have been re-accredited to continue our work to improve outcomes and experience for patients, staff and students.  We will launch our new five-year plan in the summer of 2020 and thank all stakeholders and partners for the role they have played in its development.   

Today, tomorrow and over the next few months we are working with our partners and colleagues across south east London and beyond to ensure we are bringing the power and impact of our strategic partnership to support our collective response to the current Covid-19 situation.

We all have our part to play, and we are all in this together; our clinical academic staff are redeploying, our researchers are developing clinical trials and our Mind & Body teams are focusing on psychological and wellbeing support for our staff and local communities, as well as how to best support some of the most vulnerable people in our society at this time. Our Institutes programme teams have stepped forward to support and drive much of the tactical planning underway in local organisations. Thank you for your amazing support.