Colleague News
Nurses Leading Sustainable Procurement
Michelle Johnson shared how nurses and midwives are uniquely positioned to lead the NHS’s sustainability journey through smarter procurement.
Honoured To Become a Queens Nurse: Simon Hall Champions Holistic Care in the Community
In recognition of the dedicated work, Simon Hall, our Head of Clinical Rehabilitation and Community has done in community nursing, he was recently awarded the title of Queens Nurse.
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 Melissa Morton, our Clinical Specialist.
Melissa qualified as a registered Operating Department Practitioner (ODP) in 2012. From an early age, she aspired to be a nurse, but her career path shifted after volunteering at her local hospital during college. It was there that she discovered the role of the ODP and after engaging with practitioners and learning more about the scope of the role, she became inspired to pursue it as her profession.
Over the years, Melissa has gained extensive experience across multiple specialities, from the Accident and Emergency (A&E) setting to day case theatres. Her work in A&E theatres included responding to medical emergencies throughout the hospital, including cardiac arrest and trauma calls in the Resuscitation Department. She also played a key role in transferring patients to dedicated treatment centres for specialised treatment. Melissa worked for many years as a team leader, coordinating theatre departments and leading clinical teams during high pressure situations learning strong leadership and decision-making skills.
Melissa later transitioned into a Clinical Specialist role, where she applied her frontline experience to influence procurement decisions that support safe and effective patient care. She led and managed procurement projects across multiple sites, working collaboratively with NHS Supply Chain and the Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care System (ICS).
See our Useful Links section to find out more about Melissa’s career path to becoming a Clinical Specialist.
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