Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The post holder will lead a team of centrally and locally based staff in the NHSCS procurement and commercial team including the Associate Director of the Integrated Procurement Service to provide both strategic and tactical procurement to influence in excess of £1bn commercial expenditure across NHS stakeholder organisations, currently within NHSCS.

Key Responsibilities

Communication and relationship skills

• Acts as a strong leader and is respected by executives of stakeholder and supplier organisations
• Constructs and effectively communicates complex messages to stakeholders
• Engages, influences and operates effectively at a senior level
• Maintains a wide network of contacts in commercial and public sector
• Communicates and manages change that may have significant negative effects on the working lives of NHS and supplier employees

Analytical and judgement skills

• Assesses the current procurement and commercial standards across the NHS South East region and determines the best course of action to raise those standards to best in class
• Develops effective solutions to meet the needs of stakeholder organisations, often without accurate supporting information
•  Differentiates between competing but interdependent priorities to identify optimum cost/service benefit outcomes

Planning and organisational skills

• Provides input in creating and implementing the NHSCS business plan, clearly identifying links to national, regional and local procurement priorities
• Integrates the NHSCS business plan into the wider priorities of shareholder organisations, Department of Health and Social Care and NHSE including relevant regional organisation
• Aligns the wider priorities of stakeholder organisations and NHS with the NHSCS business plan.

Responsibilities for patient care

•  Links the needs of clinicians and other professional groups to the supplier marketplace so that goods and services are selected and utilised to maximise patient care
• Creates and maintains internal and external networks to facilitate innovation in procurement of goods and services that lead to improvements in patient care
• Ensures NHSCS staff understand how they can contribute to improvements in patient care
•  Ensures that commercial agreements arranged by NHSCS for the provision of patient care services provide adequate safeguards for patients and their relatives

Responsibilities for policy and service development implementation

• Develops and implements procurement and commercial policies and strategy ensuring alignment with Department of Health and Social Care and NHSE including relevant regional organisations objectives and National standards
• Develops and contributes to the development and implementation of general policy and procurement and commercial service development within the NHS South East region
• Develops and implements strategies for improving procurement and commercial performance at Trust level for shareholder organisations
• Delivers value for money, benefits and savings to enable service developments to progress
• Responsibilities for human resources
• Ensures that the professional development needs of the NHSCS procurement and commercial team including the Associate Director of the Integrated Procurement Service are identified, met and maintained
• Ensures an attractive working environment so that all staff can deliver their optimum level of performance
• Ensures that the NHSCS procurement and commercial team meet individual and overall objectives

Responsibilities for research and development

• Ensures that NHSCS sourcing groups are able to access innovation from supply market
• Commissions appropriate research and development initiatives to secure cost and service improvements from alternative methods of operation, through new goods and services or re-engineering existing processes
• Ensures that benefits from research and development and from innovation are realised by stakeholder organisations

Freedom to act

• Within the NHSCS governance arrangements, interprets national, regional and local health service policy and strategy and directs own team as appropriate
• Operates within the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply Code of Ethics
• Ensures that all statutory obligations of NHSCS are properly discharged
• Ensures that standard operating procedures are in place for the procurement and commercial function and that all staff understand and comply with such procedures

KEY RESULT AREAS

• Delivers against core annual objectives agreed with the NHSCS Management and Executive Board
• Ensures that stakeholder requirements are understood and met by the NHSCS strategy and annual plans and delivered via collaborative and related workplans and the management of pipeline projects
• Ensures that NHSCS is fully integrated with operational and strategic needs of the health economy
• Responsible for the operational delivery of the procurement and commercial team including the Associate Director of the Integrated Procurement Service
• Designs and maintains an organisational development strategy for the procurement team, enabling NHSCS to continue to deliver benefits for the health economy over the longer term
• Secures commitment of the clinical and professional community to support NHSCS objectives
• Establishes NHSCS as the centre of procurement and commercial excellence within the health economy

Management

• To undertake performance reviews for all team members on an annual basis ensuring feedback on performance is given at regular intervals throughout the year.
• To promote the principles of Improving Working Lives amongst your team ensuring fairness and equity.
• Communicate effectively with your team on a timely basis ensuring robust systems exist so that staff feel informed.
• To have responsibility for risk management and health and safety in the workplace.

Key relationships

The Procurement Director will report directly to the NHSCS Managing Director. The Procurement Director is responsible for the NHSCS Team and Integrated Procurement Service (IPS Associate Director and team).

The Procurement Director is a member of the NHSCS Executive team, has responsibility to lead the NHSCS procurement and commercial team and will also work with relevant staff from:

• NHS organisations within the South East region and further afield including Provider Collaboratives, Integrated Care Board and constituent parts and other emerging organisations and wider public sector organisations
• Department of Health and Social Care and NHSE including relevant regional organisations
• NHS Supply Chain
• NHSCS Team and Integrated Procurement Service (IPS Associate Director and team)
• Other collaborative organisations
• Cabinet Office, Government departments and other agencies
• Suppliers and their Trade Associations