Jacqui Rock , NHS England ’ s Chief Commercial Officer , launched the NHS Central Commercial Function to reform NHS commercial practice through Collaboration , Communication & Partnership – here ’ s how
NHS ENGLAND
Jacqui Rock , NHS England ’ s Chief Commercial Officer , launched the NHS Central Commercial Function to reform NHS commercial practice through Collaboration , Communication & Partnership – here ’ s how
People often say that they fall into procurement . I didn ' t ‘ fall ’ into procurement ; I made a very definite choice that this was the career path that I wanted to follow .”
These are the words of Jacqui Rock . Rock is NHS England ’ s Chief Commercial Officer and is spearheading one of the most significant reforms NHS procurement has seen since its inception . It ’ s a task of gargantuan proportions , but she has the expertise , the vision and the sheer tenacity to get it done through the NHS Central Commercial Function .
The Challenges and Opportunities Rock points out that the private sector is very much profit-oriented , “ especially in financial services , as you can imagine ”.
“ In the public sector though , we ' re extremely conscious of taxpayers ’ money and of how we spend that money towards the provision of services .”
Beyond these key orientations , she notes that different sectors have different agendas , giving the example of the military ( having worked in major programmes across the full military estate for the Army , Navy , Royal Air Force and Joint Forces Command ), whose agenda is about protecting the realm .
With the NHS , the agenda is about providing the UK ’ s population with one of the best health services in the world , and Rock points out that these agendas come with their own particular challenges .
“ Over the top of all of those sets of challenges , though , there are also those that we as commercial professionals constantly face – whether that be the challenge of supplier resilience , the supply chain and the availability of goods , the costs of inflation , or our supplier relationships .
“ Every sector or industry has challenges that we , as commercial procurement professionals , need to know how to handle .
“ The NHS is in a very challenging time right now . We ’ re in the midst of a difficult winter and COVID-19 is still with us . Then we have the significant impact of the cost-of-living crisis , higher inflation , increasing energy prices and the overall pressure that not only the NHS and our people are feeling , but also pressures that are being felt across the entire country . The way that I ' d like to summarise that is by pointing to Amanda Pritchard , our Chief Executive , who , at the NHS ConfedExpo in June 2022 , laid out the priorities for the NHS under ‘ the four Rs ’.”
30 March 2023