With three new team members joining the division, we felt it would be helpful to share a summary of the procurement experts in our recently expanded Estates, Digital and Transport team, along with their areas of specialism, the sorts of key projects and services they help trusts to deliver and some of the specific trusts and ICSs they support.
Simon Norden, Assistant Director of Procurement – Estates, Digital and Transport
Simon oversees the division and is responsible for the strategic direction of the division’s three sub-categories. Simon joined the Hub in 2018 as a Procurement Specialist in the Corporate Services category. In 2022, he was promoted to lead the new Estates and Digital category, now the Estates, Digital and Transport division.
Estates
Patrick Pereira, Procurement Specialist – Estates
Patrick’s specialism is estates procurement. The ICSs he supports are:
- Norfolk and Waveney Procurement Collaborative
- Suffolk and North East Essex
- Mid and South Essex
Stephen Evans, Procurement Specialist – Estates
Stephen’s specialism is estates procurement. Stephen currently works part time and is planning to retire in May 2025. The ICSs he supports are:
- Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes
- Cambridge and Peterborough
Mark Kevlin, Procurement Specialist – Estates and Digital
Mark Kevlin, our new Procurement Specialist – Estates, Digital and Transport, joins us from Royal Papworth Hospital NHS FT, where he managed digital and estates contracts.
Mark’s focus at the Hub will be estates and digital, assisting Stephen Evans in supporting members with their estates’ needs and Hanna Chipchase in supporting all our members’ digital needs.
The team
Our Estates team works with members to deliver a range of procurement solutions from single contracting authority maintenance procurements to region-wide collaborations of linen and laundry or waste services, and capital building projects.
Some of the key services we deliver are:
- Linen and laundry services
- Waste collection (all streams)
- FM services
- Minor works and maintenance
- Estates consultancy services
- Modular and prefab buildings
Digital
Hanna Chipchase, Procurement Specialist – Digital
Hanna’s area of specialism is digital procurement. She is working closely with NHSE to support with regional procurements encompassing AI whilst making sure our members’ voices are heard at regional meetings. Hanna is currently supporting trusts with procurements linked to the national NHS Federated Data Platform (FDP) programme as well as procurements for bespoke IT services, multi-function device (MFD) audits, managed print services and risk management systems.
Mark Kevlin, Procurement Specialist – Estates and Digital
In addition to assisting Stephen Evans in our Estates team, Mark will also work with Hanna Chipchase in the Hub’s Digital team, providing extra capacity to further support our members with their digital procurement requirements.
The team
The support our Hub’s Digital team offers to trusts continues to grow and covers anything from IT hardware procurement to supporting delivery of multi-million pound electronic patient records (EPR) contracts.
Some of the key services we deliver are:
- Clinical and non-clinical systems
- Cloud based services
- Hardware and software
- Patient communication services
- Total technology solutions
- Telephony and mobile data services
- Digital consultancy services
Transport
Gemma Burke, Procurement Specialist – Transport
Gemma has moved to our team from the Hub’s Ambulance division, where, for two years, she led key projects like the Double Crewed Ambulance Conversions mini framework procurement and delivery of mental health vehicles.
Gemma’s specialism is transport procurement. She is currently working on scoping trusts’ future requirements around our Transportation: Patient and Specialist Courier Services framework, expiring in March 2025. Gemma is also supporting member trusts with their procurements for secure patient transport, non-emergency patient transport and pathology transport services.
The Transport sub-category
The Hub’s Transport sub-category, led by Gemma Burke, is relatively new.
Some of the procurement services we support with are:
- Transportation and courier services
- Non-emergency patient transport services
- Secure patient transport services
- Taxi services
- EV charging
- Fleet services
- Insurance services
Attachment to Estates, Digital and Transport division
Louise Dong, Procurement Graduate
Procurement Graduate, Louise Dong is currently attached to the Estates, Digital and Transport division. As part of the Pathways to NHS Procurement Graduate Scheme, Louise will spend time supporting different divisions at the Hub, gaining experience across multiple areas of the organisation.