Day in the Life of Kirsty Wiggins

What’s your name and job title? 

Kirsty Wiggins, Category Manager, Rehabilitation and Community.

What team do you work in at NHS Supply Chain?

Rehabilitation and Community – Advanced Wound Care.

What does your typical working day entail?

No two days are the same within my role, which is a good thing! Obviously, my favourite day is Friday, and this always starts off with a Teams message to my team or email to my Suppliers (if I am in conversation at that time) to say “Happy Friday!”

The purpose of my role is to develop and implement a category or product group strategy to improve the supply chain, reduce risk, create competitive advantage, and deliver cost savings. Through a focus on product range, offers and how products are brought to market, and in close collaboration with key stakeholders, the team and I create product groups that maximise value for both customers and the organisation. Another key part of my role is building relationships with suppliers in the Rehabilitation and Community industry.

With this in mind, my day-to-day does vary from supplier, customer and stakeholder meetings and calls, which I do enjoy as I love to talk and engage! I liaise with lots of different stakeholders across the organisation and outside of the business for a variety of tasks from inventory colleagues for stock/supplier issues/changes to Integrated Care System (ICS) Managers for any customer saving opportunities or queries. I feel very lucky to work in the Rehabilitation and Community category as we have access to product and clinical training and get to be quite hands on with products especially when we visit our suppliers. From time to time, we also get to attend any Wound Care Conventions/Conferences.

Suppliers on our Framework Agreement are very much part of my day-to-day working and I feel we have a great relationship.

Please can you tell us an example of a successful project you have recently been involved in and what was the value for suppliers?

I was recently involved in a savings opportunity which involved a number of stakeholders from customers and ICS Managers to category specialists and suppliers. We discussed with the customer which category areas they would be open to looking at. It was agreed that we would initially look at their biggest spend area, which was foam dressings. We reviewed the customer’s current suppliers, then analysed alternative suppliers who provided foam dressings – quickly realising that there were some good savings to be made. The customer conducted their own research by ordering product samples and gathering clinical feedback.

The customer decided to switch to one of the alternative suppliers, who were then brought in as a stakeholder and invited to a call with the ICS Manager, category specialists and the customer. The savings achieved from this project alone were approximately £150,000, and the supplier gained another customer – a win win all round and a project I’m very proud to have been part of.

What job did you to prior to joining NHS Supply Chain? Which previous role did you enjoy the most and why?

My previous roles were as a care assistant in both nursing homes and the community. I then moved into a role supporting adults with learning disabilities. I absolutely loved the interaction and sense of pride knowing I had made a difference to individuals and hands down, my favourite part of the job was listening to all of their stories. Just being there for them filled my heart and it never leaves you!

What motivates you?

Can I say wine? On a serious note, of course it’s my manager, my team, my suppliers, and the NHS! I feel very proud to be part of the NHS Supply Chain family and how dedicated we all are in providing outstanding patient care.

Finally, tell us about yourself!

Apart from being the most annoying work colleague and point of contact at NHS Supply Chain! My other biggest and best achievement by far is my three children!

In 2016, through adoption, my husband and I ended up with two gorgeous boys overnight, which was very much a shock to say the least! Going from full night’s sleep to night feeds and nappies were not really part of our plan, but here we were! 12 long months of ongoing social services meetings and court days, we were finally awarded our Special Guardianship Order! This meant we could move on with our lives and concentrate on learning how to parent these two miracles!

I would like to say we lived happily ever after this but no, we received another call regarding a little girl who were the two boys baby sister, was now also looking for a forever home. We moved from our small two bedroom house to somewhere bigger and within a few weeks, the little lady arrived and the meetings and court days began all over again. Another pain staking 12 months later, we were awarded our Special Guardianship Order again and our family was complete.

We live every day like it is our last and do everything with our kiddies. Not only do they now have a loving home, they also have each other.

They bring so much joy to our lives – we’re so lucky to have them. These three beautiful children are Logan (11), Jake (8) and Maizie (6).