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Job summary

Main area
Procurement
Grade
NHS AfC: Band 4
Contract
Permanent
Hours
Full time - 37.5 hours per week (Hybrid working to include 3 days working on site)
Job ref
196-A&C852
Employer
Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust
Employer type
NHS
Site
Guy's & St Thomas's NHS Foundation Trust
Town
London
Salary
£31,944 - £34,937 Yearly
Salary period
Yearly
Closing
18/05/2025 23:59

Employer heading

Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust logo

Senior Customer Service Assistant - Buyer

NHS AfC: Band 4

Guy’s and St Thomas’ is among the UK’s busiest and most successful NHS foundation trusts. We provide a full range of hospital and community services for people in south London and as well as specialist care for patients from further afield including cancer, renal, orthopaedic, respiratory and cardiovascular services.

Guy’s is home to the largest dental school in Europe and a £160 million Cancer Centre opened in 2016. As part of our commitment to provide care closer to home, in 2017 we also opened a cancer centre and a kidney treatment centre at Queen Mary’s Hospital in Sidcup. St Thomas’ has one of the largest critical care units in the UK and one of the busiest emergency departments in London. It is also home to Evelina London Children’s Hospital.

Evelina London cares for local children in Lambeth and Southwark and provides specialist services across south east England including cardiac, renal and critical care services. We lead a number of specialist service networks aiming to ensure children are treated locally where possible, but have access to specialist expertise when they need it. Our community services include health visiting, school nursing and support for families of children with long-term conditions. 

Our adult community services teams deliver care at the heart of the local communities we serve, working in partnership with GPs, local authorities and other healthcare and voluntary sector organisations. Working with our partners in Lambeth and Southwark, we are focusing on new ways of working to improve care for local patients.

In February 2021 the Royal Brompton and Harefield joined Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, bringing together world-leading expertise in the care and research of heart and lung disease. Our merger provides a once in a generation opportunity to build a lasting, world-renowned heart and lung centre, providing the highest quality care for patients and conducting world-leading research.

We have a reputation for clinical excellence and high quality teaching and research. We are part of King’s Health Partners, one of eight accredited UK academic health sciences centres. In partnership with King’s College London we have dedicated clinical research facilities including an MHRA accredited Phase I clinical trials unit.

Patients are at the heart of everything we do and we pride ourselves on ensuring the best possible patient experience as well as safe, high quality care. We are proud to have one of the lowest mortality rates in the NHS. Following a comprehensive Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection in 2019 we maintained our overall rating of ‘good’. Our adult community services achieved a rating of ‘outstanding’.

The commitment of our 23,500 staff is key to our success. We are one of the largest local employers and we aim to develop and support all our staff so they are able to deliver high quality, safe and efficient care. The 2019 NHS staff survey results show that we have one of the most engaged and motivated workforces in the NHS. We know this has a positive impact on the care provided to our patients.

We have one of the most ambitious capital investment programmes anywhere in the NHS.



Job overview

Are you an experienced Buyer looking to join an ambitious team in one of the most complex and large NHS Trusts in the UK.  Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation and the ‘Smart Together’ Shared Service is embarking on an exciting transformation journey to develop common systems, processes and procedures and to embrace new ways of working to ensure alignment to the national models of procurement that are emerging within the NHS.  

We are now looking for an individual to join our customer service team within the Performance Excellence function of the Procurement and Supply Chain department.

This role is as a buyer of goods and services to ensure that the trust and the wider organisations it supports have what they need to deliver world class patient care. This role will involve a variety of administrative, support and delivery tasks required to successfully deliver a sector leading procurement service

Main duties of the job

The role will be part of an important function, allowing trust colleagues to successfully do their jobs by:

·                  Managing stakeholder requests and providing timely and accurate information to stakeholder and suppliers

·                  Purchasing goods and services in line with GSTT and Shared Service Partners’ policies and procedures

·                  Providing excellent customer services to our internal customers, and dealing professionally with external suppliers

·                  Utilisation of the Shared Service systems and tools and interaction with a wide range of stakeholders across the Shared Service, ICS and the supply base.

You will also be responsible for providing professional procurement advice to all Shared Service Members, liaising frequently with suppliers to ensure  goods and services once ordered are delivered on time, and to an agreed price.

You will have good communication, and analytical skills with a strong knowledge and experience of NHS procedures, systems, legislation and guidance.

The role requires a willingness to contribute a positive and enthusiastic attitude and the applicant must be reliable, pro-active and enjoy working as part of a busy team.

Working for our organisation

Why join us:

  • Be part of an inclusive department with a flexible hybrid working approach and great annual leave offer, fostering a healthy work-life balance.
  • Access to individual development opportunities and mentorship for career progression.
  • Access to a great salary and an NHS pension.

 

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

A full Job Description and Personal Specification should be downloaded.

* ‘Smart Together’ is a shared procurement and supply chain service hosted by Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, one of the leading hospitals in the country and serve the hospitals across south east London.  

Smart Together currently provides its services to GSTT and 4 other NHS Trusts, namely, Lewisham & Greenwich NHS Trust, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust, Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust and South London & Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust. 

Please apply for this post by clicking "Apply Online Now."

Person specification

Education and Qualifications

Essential criteria
  • Educated to diploma/NVQ level or relevant experience
  • Hold evidence of having achieved an A*-C GCSE or equivalent in Math and English.
Desirable criteria
  • Evidence of continuing professional development.

Knowledge and Experience

Essential criteria
  • Experience working as part of a team and the ability to develop contacts and build networks.
  • Administrative experience and a good level of IT literacy, including Microsoft Office applications, in particular Excel and Word.

Skills

Essential criteria
  • Strong spoken and written communication skills and social skills.
  • Good interpersonal skills with the ability to communicate and work effectively across teams.
  • Excellent organisational skills with the ability to work under pressure.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

Timewise helps businesses to attract and develop the best talent through flexible working.Care quality commission - GoodDisability confident employer

Documents to download

Apply online now

Further details / informal visits contact

Name
Lyndsey Flenley
Job title
Director of Performance Excellence
Email address
[email protected]
Telephone number
07591348601
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