One Perspective with Jessica Sellars

One Perspective is our Q&A series where the people shaping One Health’s future discuss the issues that directly affect the health and surgical care sector. With more than 21 years of experience at One Health Group, Chief Operating Officer Jessica Sellars reflects on her career journey, the lessons she has learned along the way, and the people and experiences that have shaped her as a leader.

You joined One Health Group in 2005. What first attracted you to the organisation, and what has kept you here for more than two decades?

I joined One Health Group straight from university, when the business was still very much a start-up and at the beginning of its journey. That was a huge part of the attraction. It wasn’t a finished organisation with established structures and rigid roles; it was a business where there was a real opportunity to get involved, work hard, create things and make an impact.

I’ve always been a grafter, and I’m naturally driven by efficiency, progress and getting things done. One Health gave me the autonomy and freedom to use those strengths from very early on. As the business evolved, I wasn’t confined by a job description. I was trusted to take on more responsibility, shape new roles around what the organisation needed and find better ways of doing things.

That trust and freedom have been a huge part of why I’ve stayed. I’ve effectively been able to build my career alongside the business. Every stage of One Health’s growth has brought a new challenge and, with it, another opportunity to learn, contribute and influence the direction of the organisation.

More than 20 years on, that still motivates me. I like building, improving and creating momentum, and One Health has continually given me the opportunity to do exactly that.

You’ve progressed through a number of roles during your time at One Health. Which career move or opportunity had the biggest impact on your development?

Rather than one particular promotion, I think the biggest impact came from being given opportunities to step outside my comfort zone and take responsibility for areas broader than my existing role.

As the organisation grew, I gained exposure to different parts of the business and, importantly, learned how they connect, from the patient journey and day-to-day operations through to people, governance, performance and strategy.

That breadth of experience has been invaluable in my role as COO. It taught me not to look at operational issues in isolation. Decisions in one part of a healthcare organisation almost always have consequences somewhere else, so understanding the whole system is incredibly important.

What do you think are the biggest differences between the Jessica who started at One Health in 2005 and the COO you are today?

Probably experience, perspective and how I respond to situations. The Jessica who joined in 2005 was ambitious, determined and very driven, but I was also younger, more impatient and probably a little more hot-headed. If I saw something that wasn’t working, I wanted to fix it immediately.

That instinct is still there, but experience has taught me to be calmer and more measured. I’m much better at stepping back, understanding the wider context, listening to different perspectives and deciding what genuinely needs an immediate response and what needs a little more thought.

What hasn’t changed is that I’m still very direct. I value honesty, feedback and open conversations, and I’d much rather address something early than allow it to grow. I believe in nipping things in the bud, even when the conversation might be uncomfortable.

What has changed is how I have those conversations. Earlier in my career, I was probably more focused on getting to the answer quickly. Today, I’m more conscious of listening first, understanding what sits behind an issue and bringing people with me. You can be direct without being confrontational, and you can challenge someone while still making it clear that you respect them and want them to succeed.

I’ve also gained much more confidence in my own judgement. I no longer feel I need to react to everything or have all the answers myself. As COO, a big part of my role is creating the conditions for other people to perform, asking the right questions, and knowing when to step in and when to give people the space to find the answer themselves.

So, I’d say I’m calmer, more experienced and more considered than I was in 2005 — but the fundamentals are probably the same. I work hard, I care about getting things done properly, I’m straightforward and I don’t let problems sit in the background. I’d like to think I’ve kept the drive and honesty I started with, but learned how to use them much more effectively as a leader.

Who has been the biggest influence on your career, and what did you learn from them?

I’ve been fortunate to work with several people throughout my career who have influenced me in different ways, so it would be difficult to identify just one.

The leaders I’ve learned most from are those who trusted me with responsibility rather than simply telling me what to do. Being given the space to make decisions, occasionally make mistakes and learn from them has been hugely important to my development.

I’ve tried to carry that into my own leadership style. If you work with talented people, you need to give them clarity and accountability, but also the trust and space to do their jobs.

What’s the best piece of career advice you’veever received?

Don’t wait until you feel completely ready before taking an opportunity. Some of the most important steps in my career involved taking on something that felt like a stretch at the time. If you wait until you can do every aspect of a role perfectly before putting yourself forward, you’ll probably wait too long. You need enough self-awareness to recognise what you don’t know, but also enough confidence to know that you can learn it.

What’s something about being a COO that people probably don’t realise?

How much of the role is about joining the dots. Operations touches almost every part of the organisation - patients, clinicians, people, technology, finance, governance and commercial activity. A decision that looks straightforward on the surface can have implications across several of those areas.

The challenge is balancing today’s operational performance with what the organisation needs to look like in two, three or five years. You have to make sure the business works effectively today while also building the capability, infrastructure and processes that will support future growth.

There’s also a lot of problem-solving. No two days are quite the same, which is one of the things I enjoy most about the role.

You hold both a degree in Business Studies and an MSc in Leadership and Management. How have your studies influenced the way you approach your role in practice?

My Business Studies degree gave me a strong grounding across the different disciplines that make an organisation work. My MSc in Leadership and Management came at a different stage of my career and encouraged me to think much more deeply about leadership itself.

What I found particularly valuable was being able to relate academic thinking to situations I was experiencing in the workplace. It reinforced that leadership isn’t simply about delivering a plan; it’s about people, culture, communication and managing change.

In practice, I think the combination of study and experience has been important. Academic learning gives you frameworks and challenges your thinking, but experience teaches you when and how to apply them. Healthcare rarely presents you with a textbook situation.

Healthcare is constantly changing. What excites you most about the future of the sector, and what opportunities do you see for One Health Group?

What excites me most is the increasing focus on finding different ways to deliver healthcare. The NHS faces significant and well-documented pressures, and I think organisations like One Health Group have an important role to play in being part of the solution.

We’ve always been agile and responsive, and I see that becoming even more valuable as the sector evolves. We can respond to local demand, work collaboratively with NHS partners and adapt our services around what patients and healthcare systems actually need.

I’m also excited by how technology, data and better use of information can simplify patient pathways and improve productivity. For me, innovation doesn’t always have to mean something revolutionary. Often, it’s about finding a smarter, simpler and more efficient way of delivering care.

The opportunity for One Health is to use that agility, experience and operational focus to become an increasingly important partner to the NHS, helping more patients access the right care, in the right place, at the right time.

If you could go back and give your 2005 self one piece of advice, what would it be?

Be patient. I’ve always been ambitious and keen to make things happen, but I’ve learned that not everything needs to happen immediately. Sometimes you need to give people, decisions and opportunities time to develop. Patience isn’t about losing momentum; it’s about knowing when to push and when to give something space.

After more than 20 years at the organisation,what are you most proud of? And what are you still hoping to achieve?

I’m most proud of having played a part in One Health Group’s journey and seeing how the organisation has developed over more than 20 years. Throughout that growth, we’ve kept patients at the centre of what we do. Behind every operational metric is a patient waiting for care, and I never want us to lose sight of that.

I’m also incredibly proud of the people and teams we’ve developed. Watching people grow in confidence, take on greater responsibility and progress in their own careers is one of the most rewarding parts of leadership.

Looking ahead, one of the things I’m most excited about is our Hub strategy. I’m currently project managing and overseeing the development of our first One Health Hub, which is due to open next year. It’s a significant milestone for the Group and the culmination of an enormous amount of work across the organisation.

Beyond that, securing our second Hub site and ultimately developing a network of One Health Hubs represents a significant opportunity. Our ambition is to create additional capacity that can support NHS elective demand, enable us to reach more patients and provide a platform for sustainable, long-term growth. Importantly, that sits alongside, rather than replaces, our hospital partnership model. Continuing to strengthen and develop those relationships remains fundamental to our future.

For me, the ambition is to bring all of that together: successfully deliver our first Hub, develop the network and strengthen our hospital partnerships, while ensuring that as we scale, we retain the quality, agility and patient focus that have always been at the heart of One Health Group.