Job overview

Health Procurement Liverpool (HPL) is a single shared procurement service for:
• Alder Hey Children’s Hospital;
• Clatterbridge Cancer Centre;
• Liverpool Heart & Chest Hospital;
• The Walton Centre.

HPL was established in April 2021 and is hosted by The Walton Centre NHS Foundation Trust. Each of the organisations named above is an equal partner in the service and is responsible for the strategic direction of the function. HPL is fully accountable to all organisations and Trust boards. The HPL vision is to develop a world class health procurement alliance, which creates opportunities, delivers excellence, embraces innovation and maximises value to patient care, whilst ensuring financial sustainability.

Staff will be required to work agile and flexibly across multiple hospital sites (where appropriate).

The Category Lead will work as part of the Procurement Team to ensure that the purchase of all goods and services are undertaken in the most efficient and effective manner across Health Procurement Liverpool (HPL), whilst adhering to the Trust(s) standing financial instructions and corporate governance procedures.

Main duties of the job

The main responsibility will be to manage concurrent projects to ensure the Trust(s) meet annual Cost Improvement Programmes, whilst abiding by relevant Procurement legislation.

The Category Lead will be responsible for supporting the Senior Category Lead and Procurement and Contract Manager in the delivery of the HPL Procurement Strategy and national procurement agendas.

The post holder will be required to support the Strategic Procurement Team in the identification and delivery of Procurement schemes as well as individually leading and delivering a number of projects, which will demonstrate and deliver value for money and innovation whilst meeting the needs of all organisation(s).

The post holder will be required to provide sound Procurement advice in-line with Trust(s) standing financial instructions and Public Contract Regulations  to both internal Procurement team members and staff across the HPL organisations.

The post holder will work closely with business and clinical colleagues across all HPL organisations to undertake procurement activity which will deliver innovation, meets local, national and regional green agendas whilst delivering value and quality to patient care.

The Category Lead will be responsible for all aspects of purchasing from quotations up to and including above threshold procurement exercises as per the Public Contract Regulations.

Working for our organisation

The Walton Centre NHS Foundation Trust is the only NHS trust to hold dual accreditation for the Investors in People. We invest in people and we invest in wellbeing standards and have been awarded Gold status for both. The Walton Centre is a leader in the treatment and care of neurology and neurosurgery, placing the patient and their family at the heart of everything we do. As the only specialist hospital trust in the UK dedicated to providing comprehensive neurology, neurosurgery, spinal and pain management services we are proud to be rated as an Outstanding Trust by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), and champion change throughout the field of neuroscience. Originally formed in 1992, the Trust received Foundation Trust status in 2009.

With around 1,450 staff, The Walton Centre treats more than 127,000 outpatients and 18,000 inpatients each year. We have leading specialists and incredibly dedicated staff delivering excellent clinical outcomes for brain, spinal and neurological care nationally and internationally. Teams across our site in Fazakerley, Liverpool, offer a world-class service in diagnosing and treating injuries and illnesses affecting the brain, spine and peripheral nerves and muscles, and in supporting people suffering from a wide range of long-term neurological conditions.