In this week’s Q&A, we spoke to Dominic LaCaze, Supply Manager, about the work of Supply and Procurement at Northern Health.

What is your coffee order?

Medium triple shot flat white, no sugar.

Tell us about your Northern Health journey?

Back in 2015, I was employed on a 12 month contract for a project to convert manual ordering to a semi-automated order system, Imprest, which uses barcodes and scanners to create orders. Seven months into the role, I was employed full time and took over the Supply team and then also managed the car fleet. As the hospital grew and became busier, the team and the scope of work increased.

What is the role of Supply and Procurement?

The role of Supply and Procurement is to support the clinical teams and their requirements on a day to day basis.

What does a typical day look like for yourself and the team?

A typical day is delivering all the inbound medical consumables, delivering the PPE orders, staff scanning consumables to replenish stock in the wards, investigating order and stock issues, booking couriers, managing fleet and receiving COVID-19 related stock and equipment.

How has COVID-19 changed the way of Supply and Procurement?

It has certainly made life busier. The complexities of COVID-19 protocols and the rapid changes have meant more flexibility is required by everyone. Ward changes and openings and closures have been a challenge, but all the supply staff have adapted without complaints and just got on with it.

What do you enjoy the most about your role?

The variety of tasks certainly makes life interesting and helping busy clinical staff to make it easier for them and improving the way we do things.

What do you like to do in your spare time?

I like to cycle and swim but have been very slack and no pools are open. I would also normally say eat and drink but I did Dry July and haven’t had a drink since. Maybe a beer now that we are at 80 per cent vaccination.

Featured image: Supply and Procurement team.