The ‘Get to Know’ series showcases staff from around the NHS Workforce Alliance to give you a glimpse of the variety of roles in our organisation and the people who perform them.
This month, we’re pleased to introduce Laura Bolochowecki, Commercial Agreement Manager in the workforce team at Crown Commercial Service.
What is your background?
After studying law at university, I completely ignored it and went into HR and recruitment before making the move to procurement. I’d always worked in the private sector before moving to public sector procurement around 2 and a half years ago.
What is your role within the NHS Workforce Alliance and what does it involve?
I am a Commercial Agreement Manager in the workforce team at Crown Commercial Service (one of the five NHS Workforce Alliance partners). A large part of my role is supporting customers to find workforce solutions which offer commercial value and facilitate great patient care.
Why are you passionate about this?
I strongly believe in a patient first approach. Although we’re not patient facing, we can support to help improve the patient experience and overall quality of healthcare through the NHS with workforce solutions.
What is the greatest challenge you face at work?
Our customer base is under a lot of pressure. This often leads to a transactional approach to framework solutions as time is precious. Whilst this approach is effective to provide a solution to the immediate need; encouraging customers to look strategically at requirements to provide a commercially effective long-term solution can be a challenge. It requires more time in the short term which is often scarce.
What was your first job and how has it impacted your career?
My first job was a paper round when I was about 14. I can’t say it massively impacted my career but it did teach me reliability. I also learnt the importance of asking if you don’t understand, after delivering a paper to the wrong house for 3 months by guessing it was the right one.
How would you spend a perfect day off?
It would start with say a very long lie in, walk anywhere near water, followed by dinner, drinks and music.