Colleague News
Keeping Patients at the Heart of Care; How Clinical Expertise Is Making Sure Community Voices Are Heard
How NHS Supply Chain’s Ellie Addison is bringing community voices and system leadership together to improve health and care services.
Driving Better Value in Northern Ireland
A clinically-led procurement transformation in Northern Ireland unlocks savings and smarter decision-making.
Celebrating Allied Health Professions Day – 14 October 2025
Colleagues in the field reflect on their careers within the Allied Health Professionals community.
A Shared Responsibility
This video is a celebration of how future leaders are embracing our shared responsibility to deliver safe patient care for the NHS, patients and caregivers.
Clinical Community Spotlight
Every month we’re sharing an insight into the vast range of clinical and non-clinical expertise which makes up our Clinical Community.
This month we’re featuring Simon Ball our Head of Clinical – Diagnostics and Capital Equipment.
Simon Ball has worked at NHS Supply Chain for five years within the Rehab and Community Category, serving as the clinical specialist for Pressure Area Care, Patient Handling, Aids for Daily Living, and Wheelchair frameworks.
A physiotherapist by profession, Simon specialised in Musculoskeletal (MSK) services, with his most recent clinical role focused on orthopaedic assessment, where he investigated complex cases and arranged appropriate diagnostic investigations ahead of specialist referral.
See our Useful Links section to find out more about Simon’s career path to becoming a Head of Clinical – Diagnostics and Capital Equipment.
Collaborative Expertise: Clinical Community across four directorates
NHS Supply Chain is supported by a specialist leadership group known as the Clinical Community. This diverse group brings together healthcare professionals with a wide range of qualifications – such as nurses, midwives, and allied health professionals including physiotherapists, operating department practitioners, and paramedics. They work in close collaboration with colleagues who contribute extensive experience from the NHS, industry, specialist healthcare products, and procurement.
All focused on how to support the NHS to deliver high quality clinical patient care.
The Clinical Community operates across four directorates – Clinical, Commercial, Strategy and Change, and Customer Engagement – ensuring a well-rounded, strategic approach to supporting NHS priorities.
Clinical
- Innovation
- Patient Safety
- Clinical Professional Standards
- Regulatory Compliance
- Clinical Operations and Development
Commercial
- Medical Technology
- Medical and Consumables
- Diagnostic Equipment and Services
Customer Engagement
- Voice of the Customer
- Care Pathway
- Out of Hospital Care
Strategy and Change
- Inventory Management Systems