Simon Cox , South Shields, United Kingdom

I currently work as a Project Manager for NAATTC as part of the Pharmacy Department as agency staff. I oversee the project management of the trials and design of medication and treatments based on cell regeneration. I ensure all deadlines are met and all partners are working to time and on budget. I hold regular meetings with Partners and Work Plan Leads across the country and Scotland.

I Provide highly complex, potentially confidential and commercially sensitive information to/from NAATTC colleagues and across the Advanced Therapies Treatment Centre Network. I use strong persuasion and negotiation skills and have contact with senior individuals in industry and the NHS (England and Scotland) in the following groups: o Work Package Leads. o Partners from the NAATTC consortium. I maintain relationships with the above groups and other stakeholders internal and external to the NAATTC and persuade and influence others to meet NAATTC work package objectives.

I use the dollowing skills as part of my role:

Liaise, coordinate and plan complex activities in association with NAATTC work package leads and partners and other external agencies. Prioritision of work to balance competing demands of work packages to ensure all tasks are completed within defined project timescales. Use flexibility and ability to respond quickly to changing priorities.

In my previous role working for the Public Health Team at NHS England as a Programme Manager. I work as part of a dynamic team overseeing section 7a assignments. I currently oversee the work plan, I also review risk management for the Cumbria and North East Public Health team. I work closely with Commissioning Leads from the Local Authorities to ensure all commissioned services match up with national specifications and all treatment targets are met. I'm involved in the development of service specifications and service level agreements. Reviewing national policy to ensure this is part of all specifications. Ensure that all information regarding services is provided in a way key holders from all areas can understand it. I'm the link with other teams and stake holders throughout the organisation. I take the lead with projects, ensuring the task are assigned to the correct members of the team. Resolve any conflict between team members and also providers. Ensure all projects meet the required deadlines. Looking at risk in all areas and how projects may need to change to ensure the risk never takes place that could cause any damage. Make sure all projects fall within the budget envelope. Produce reports when needed.


In my previous role for NHS England, I worked for the Primary Care Team as a Business Manager, working as part of a dynamic team overseeing GP contracts and policies. I take the lead on service reviews, gathering information to consider the options for the future of practices using GMS, PMS and APMS contracts.

Within my role, I contact practice managers, GPs, Clinical Commissioning Groups and Local Medical Committees to review data and enable reports to be written and decisions to be made on patient list closures, branch closures and funding requests, this experience will be vital for ensuring all section 7a agreements are met within Public Health. I ensure contracts are written to match service specifications meaning the best possible service are in place for all patients, making sure the national guidance is followed. Once the contracts are in place, I oversee the contact management procedure. I develop contract variations for each surgery when changes are made. I also oversee the project management and procurement of GP services including engagement with GPs, CCG’s, Overview and Scrutiny Committees, finance departments and local residents and Local Authorities, ensuring all stakeholders are contacted so the correct decisions are made regarding all services. By using the experience, I have from both my current and previous roles, I know I can ensure the stakeholders and patients’ needs are met and the correct decisions are made regarding Public Health services. I have worked with a wide variety of stakeholders in the past, from patients, surgeries, pharmacies, local Councillors and Members of Parliament. I was once asked to give a presentation in The House of Lords to explain how the process takes place. I have also given presentations regarding commissioning, procurement and contract management at conferences across the country, I know I can take my experience into the role as Contract Manager within the Public Health Department of NHS England.

I can make sure the correct form of contract management is in place from using my experience of commissioning. I have worked as a commissioning officer from 2006 and acting when needed as commissioning manager for North Tyneside Drug Action Team and into North Tyneside Public Health. I oversaw the whole process of each service I managed. I designed and wrote service specifications, for example drug and alcohol treatment, sexual health, stop smoking and Directed Enhanced and Local Enhances Services of Public Health. Once the service specification was written, I advertised the service and took the lead in the procurement process, ensuring a wide verity of stakeholders were in place to procure the best provider for the patients. Once the provider is in place, I produced and wrote the contract and where needed, service level agreement. When the provider was in place, I arranged meetings to oversee the running of the service, building up a working relationship with the management team of the provider to ensure the service is being run in the correct way and for the benefit of all service users. In previous roles over the past 10 years while working within the Public Health Department I have built up a strong background in commissioning, procurement and project management. I managed the contract with the Mental Health Trust to ensure the best service was given for our clients. I set up the most recent drug and alcohol service for North Tyneside, overseeing the transfer from one group of providers to Northumberland Tyne and Wear Mental Health Foundation Trust. I was the first point of contact with the previous providers and the new provider. Attended all the meetings and negotiated the costs to fit in with the Public Health budget for this service. I developed and managed contracts across Public Health, overseeing the monitoring meetings as well as managing the contracts. It was always good to work with the Provider Managers to see how the service could be improved and developed above and beyond the original SLA and contract, always making sure the best service in place for service users. By using this knowledge, I can ensure all contracts are completed, monitored and managed to budget and in the best possible way for all residents who visit their GP and the use of Public Health to ensure the fitness and health of all residents. I worked alongside clients who had been imprisoned, I ensured the correct services were commissioned so they could be seen and given the best treatment and advice. It is known that the prison system is used by prisoners for the distribution of illegal drugs. Prisoners are known to go in drug free then become drug dependent once inside. I ensured the correct treatment services were commissioned to look after our clients. I complete and write policy documents. I arrange all engagement events with the public to ensure the correct services are commissioned to meet the needs of the local residents and let them know how the whole process works. This can be taken forward within the Public Health Department of NHS England so patients know the correct service is in place and feel a part of the commissioning process. Within North Tyneside Public Health, I managed a team of four and guided the team through the commissioning, procurement and contract management process. I also manged the Pharmacy side of Public Health for stop smoking, drug treatment and sexual health. I ensured all pharmacies across North Tyneside installed Pharm Outcomes and provided training in using the system. I monitored the pharmacy treatment throughout the service.

I ensure all contract management is completed to deadlines in a manner that gives no disruption to patient services. Using my skills I’ve built up communicating with colleagues across the whole organisation, to ensure information is understood at all times, working alongside the Pharmacy, Optometry , Dental and GP Teams to make sure Primary Care links together in the best possible way.

I act on the Commissioning Management team for both the Institute of Commissioning Professionals and the Institute of Healthcare Managers. I go to various national events to give presentations and advise about commissioning. This enables me to gain knowledge from colleagues further afield that can be used in the North East and Cumbria for GP services.

I have 15 years’ experience of working as an accountant, part qualified CIMA from my previous roles when working in Finance Departments. I understand the importance of following standing orders and financial instructions so all budgets are met and overspending does not take place. This becomes very important when buying in services and equipment, following the purchase order process.