Nicole Kingsbury recalls the very first thing she ordered for the Mackay Base Hospital 24 years ago in her new role as a procurement officer; a prosthetic limb.
It’s her encyclopaedic knowledge of medical consumables, ability to problem solve and develop contingency plans as well as long history within the hospital environment which makes her role as Supply Manager vital to the Mackay HHS and equally rewarding and challenging.
Her team is responsible for ordering and supply of everyday consumables across the service, including items like toilet paper, stationery and cleaning supplies right through to PPE, medical equipment and the state-of-the-art pharmacy robot now being installed at MBH.
Supply is the “backbone” of the hospital, Nicole said, and in 30 years there had been enormous process change in the department as well as to staff, the hospital site itself and in technology.
“We are involved in all purchases made by the hospital and health service across the sites. We see everything here and that includes all the bread-and-butter consumables including cannulation equipment, torniquets, swabs – anything the medical staff and clinicians are using on the wards,” Nicole said.
“Pathology orders their own blood products and pharmacy orders their own drugs, but in supply we also order and receive surgical equipment such as the loan kits – this is sometimes can be up to 20 boxes of screws, pins and other orthopaedic equipment for operations in the hospital such as hip replacements.
“We do a lot in supply and we see a lot come through that back dock.”
Nicole has worked at Mackay Base Hospital for 30 years, starting as a casual receptionist in the dental unit in 1992 straight out of high school.
Nicole loves her interaction with staff in various areas across the health service and regularly offers perspective to her staff reminding them that HHS patients “could be any of our parents or relatives.”
She has seen enormous change in the Base hospital site itself as well as momentous change in ordering systems and software in 30 years.
“The internet has really revolutionised the ordering and supply process – it made things much easier to source, but there’s always still the delays and ongoing demand with supply challenges,” she said.
Covid had also created challenges for the supply team.
“I’m proud of the fact we never ran out of PPE though – we got down to the last three N95 masks, but we never ran out,” she said.
“We always have contingencies too if we had trouble sourcing products.”
Despite fielding more than 50 phone calls a day to assist with information requests from units and staff across the HHS and to be a “sounding board for ideas and alternatives”, Nicole said she enjoys the challenge.
“I still get a buzz out of sourcing stuff for people as it’s problem solving really and you need to be both flexible and adaptable,” she said.
Longevity in the hospital workforce means Nicole has a multitude of memories and has made many lifelong friends. Thirty years on, she still enjoys the role flexibility and the feeling of giving back to the community.
“Supply is always here to help anyone and everyone across the HHS and it’s a real team effort,” she said.
“I feel like each and every day we accomplish things for both our colleagues and their patients. That we are all helping to make a real difference in this community.
“Supply is definitely a vital cog in the wheel of the whole health service.”
