Clinical Community Spotlight – Olivia Kennedy

Olivia began her healthcare career at 18, completing her honours degree in Adult Nursing by the time she was, 21 before moving straight into frontline practice. After building a strong foundation on an acute ward, she progressed into Critical Care, where she spent five years developing advanced skills, completing her Level 6 Critical Care Certificate in Professional Studies, and caring for highly complex patients – including throughout the COVID‑19 pandemic.

Driven by a passion for patient safety and quality improvement, Olivia joined NHS Supply Chain as a Clinical Nurse Advisor before moving into the Care Pathway Team as a Clinical Care Pathway Manager. Alongside her role, she contributed to the Clinical and Quality of Care strategy working group and supported the development and facilitation of the Customer Engagement Stakeholder Engagement Programme – broadening her understanding of system‑wide improvement and strengthening her leadership capability.

Olivia’s commitment to growth, combined with her strategic mindset, led to her recent progression into the role of Care Pathway Specialist. In this position, she partners with clinical and non‑clinical stakeholders across London to identify unmet needs and co‑produce evidence‑based pathway solutions. Her work focuses on achieving measurable improvements in patient outcomes and aligns closely with NHS Supply Chain’s commitment to creating lasting value for patients. By keeping patients at the centre of pathway redesign and championing approaches that improve care quality, experience, and outcomes, she supports meaningful improvements across the health system.

A key part of Olivia’s role is helping stakeholders realise value through outcomes‑focused decision making, including the use of Value Based Healthcare (VBHC) approaches. By considering clinical, operational, financial, and patient‑reported outcomes across full pathways, she supports trusts and ICSs to adopt best practice, reduce unwarranted variation, and implement innovation confidently.

Through her work, Olivia contributes to improvements that benefit patients, and the wider system – ensuring that value is delivered where it matters most: for the people and communities the NHS serves.

How This Supports the Clinical and Quality of Care Strategy

Olivia’s work on developing evidence‑based care pathways directly supports the Clinical and Quality of Care Strategy. By partnering with stakeholders and using national clinical guidance to shape pathway improvements, she helps to:

• Promote quality of care – through the design of evidence‑led pathways that improve patient outcomes, reduce unwarranted variation, and support the safe adoption of innovation.
• Strengthen partnerships – by working collaboratively with clinical and non‑clinical stakeholders across London, ensuring pathway solutions reflect real‑world need and amplifying the clinical voice within NHS Supply Chain.
• Support Population Health Management – through value‑based healthcare initiatives and pathway redesign that enhance equity, address variation across populations, and enable data‑driven decisions that improve outcomes at provider and system level.

Keeping the patient at the forefront of our work is essential and is something I`m very passionate about. Ensuring the clinical voice is heard throughout our organisation means the pathways we shape aren’t just efficient – they truly improve patient outcomes.

Olivia Kennedy, Care Pathway Specialist, NHS Supply Chain