We are pleased to announce that all four NHS procurement hubs, including the East of England NHS Collaborative Procurement Hub (EOECPH), are taking part in the NHS Procurement Graduate Training Scheme – a trainee will be joining EOECPH this September and we are now recruiting for our 2024 intake.

The NHS Procurement Graduate Training Scheme was introduced in 2020, welcoming graduates into NHS procurement teams across Yorkshire and Humber and London in 2021. Following the success of the pilot year, The Skills Development Network, Yorkshire and Humber (SDN Y&H), now with support from Health Care Supply Association (HCSA) and NHS England (NHSE), are advertising the national training and development programme for graduates to join procurement teams throughout various NHS organisations across England.

The Graduate Training Scheme initiative is a highly focused development pathway offering graduates an opportunity to develop an exciting career in NHS procurement. It will allow graduates to gain valuable experience in a range of areas, including buying, contract management, materials management, and many more areas within procurement.

Some of the benefits of the programme include:

• Career development from day one with experience in different roles
• Salaried role with full benefits package
• Technical skills development via a fully funded procurement qualification – Chartered Institute of Procurement Supply (CIPS) Level 4 Commercial Procurement and Supply Apprenticeship

In the East of England, we are pleased to have had an active cohort between 2023 to 2025 employing four graduates across three NHS organisations. We are also delighted to announce that we have a trainee joining the Hub in September 2023.

Olivia Humphrey, who took part in the programme at the NHS North of England Commercial Collaborative and has now been hired on as a Procurement Support Officer, says of her experience of the scheme:

“The Procurement Graduate Scheme has given me a detailed understanding of the procurement function. Through working with different teams, I have gained insight into how the NHS provides a valuable service. The scheme has provided me with the skillset I need to confidently build my procurement career.”

The NHS Graduate Procurement scheme is also in line with the recently published NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, which addresses the need to provide more training routes to support the NHS in building teams with the right skills for the future, particularly in hard-to-fill roles which may be less visible to school leavers.

Application forms from organisations interested in hosting a graduate starting in autumn 2024 are due Friday 22 September 2023. We strongly encourage our members to take part in this fantastic scheme and help support the future of NHS procurement. For more information, please visit the Pathways 2 NHS Procurement website.