Clinical Community Spotlight
About Theresa
Theresa Bowles has been a valued member of NHS Supply Chain for six years, serving as a Clinical Specialist – formerly known as Clinical Engagement and Implementation Manager.
She currently supports the External Breast Prosthesis and Urology and Bowel frameworks (including stoma since 2024), and her work has also spanned Sexual Health, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, and Aids for Daily Living. Across these diverse specialties, Theresa’s focus remains consistent: championing patient needs, supporting patient choice, and improving access to products for long-term and community-based care.
Before joining NHS Supply Chain, Theresa spent two decades in the NHS, including 15 years as a Clinical Nurse Specialist in stoma care.
She also worked in the medical device industry for a manufacturer specialising in stoma and continence care, giving her a well-rounded perspective on both clinical and commercial aspects of healthcare delivery.
Driving Strategic Change in Prescribed Devices
In June 2025, Theresa was seconded to NHS England’s Medicines Value and Access team for three days a week, where she serves as the subject matter expert for stoma care. Her role contributes to a Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) – commissioned review of the end-to-end pathway for stoma products available on prescription. This strategic initiative aims to reshape the category strategy for stoma care, ensuring that clinicians and end users are meaningfully represented in future policy and procurement decisions.
This work builds on Theresa’s participation in the earlier Ostomates Project, through which she published two papers exploring stoma care services from both clinical and patient perspectives. She presented these findings last year at a global symposium in Glasgow, Congress for the World Council of Enterostomal Therapists (WCET), highlighting the importance of co-produced care pathways and patient voice in service design. The current project runs in parallel with a similar review of urology and continence products.
Embedding the Clinical and Quality of Care Strategy
Theresa’s role at NHS Supply Chain is instrumental in embedding the Clinical and Quality of Care Strategy into procurement and category development. By integrating the needs of people with long-term conditions into strategic planning, she supports a population health approach that reduces inequalities and fosters collaboration with clinicians and service users. This ensures that product offerings align with the full care pathway – from hospital to home.
As care increasingly shifts into community settings, NHS Supply Chain is expanding its capacity to support services beyond acute care. Theresa’s work is central to this evolution, ensuring that long-term and community-based needs are met with clinically appropriate, value-based solutions.
Maintaining patient choice and co-producing clinical pathways is something I’m passionate about. Balancing this with clinical assessment and a deeper understanding of product attributes is essential to delivering effective, value-based care.
Theresa Bowles, Clinical Specialist, NHS Supply Chain
Her dual roles – within NHS Supply Chain and NHS England – allow her to influence both operational delivery and strategic policy, always with the end user’s needs at the heart of decision-making. In long-term care, where self-management is often the goal, Theresa advocates for clinical decisions that empower individuals and support sustainable, person-centred care.
Outside of Work
To manage the demands of her dual role, Theresa finds balance through daily walks with Flossie the Cockapoo, weekly band rehearsals, and year-round wild swimming. Now entering her sixth winter as an all-weather, open-water swimmer (no wetsuit – just a swimming costume), she embraces the cold with enthusiasm.
As the temperatures drop, I get more excited – especially when there’s ice to break before getting in.