Mr John Swords

John Swords is Head of Procurement in Health Business Services (HBS) the Business Division of the Health Service Executive (HSE).

John has in excess of 30 years experience in the HSE from both a Finance and Procurement perspective. As Head of Procurement, John is responsible for the strategic operational development and management of all Procurement related activity with an annual spend of approx €2.5bn on products and services across the Health Service.

In his role, as Head of Procurement,John holds significant responsibility in terms of the HBS strategic journey. His remit requires a key focus on transformational business such as implementation of the Procurement Sourcing Plan incorporating compliance improvement, continuation of the National Logistics Service along with supporting the National Finance Reform and Stabilisation Programmes.

A pro-active and supportive procurement professional, John has been instrumental in developing meaningful engagement with the Small Medium Sized Enterprises. This has led to HBS Procurement developing a Strategy for Engaging with SME’s which has received much positive publicity particularly in the area of Supplier Engagements.

John and his Team have been instrumental in the implementation of the ‘One Voice for Health’ Procurement strategy which resides with HBS. This has been a key enabler in achieving cost reduction, increased efficiencies and the adoption of streamlined standardised Procurement processes to avoid duplication of effort. An emphasis has also been placed on compliance with both National and EU Procurement Directives.

John is responsible for implementing the Procurement Plan inclusive of Sourcing plan , Competency and Capacity development ,Conpliance , Logistics and Systems which are key enablers in providing front line services to patients. Procurement Plan forms a key part of the HBS Strategy 2017 – 2019.