
Atlas McNeil Healthcare has a breadth of specialist knowledge that allows staff to provide tailored solutions and personalised services to healthcare and home care professionals.
Starting her career as a registered nurse, Gail Pulford, National Corporate Account Manager for Atlas McNeil Healthcare has over 30 years of experience in the medical space. We sat down with Gail to discuss her role with Atlas McNeil Healthcare.
What is your career background that makes you so suited to being an Atlas McNeil healthcare specialist?
Originally a Registered Nurse, I moved into sales in the medical arena many years ago (over 30) and have worked solely in medical distribution and manufacturing since from sales, management and marketing roles. The broad depth of my background (wound care, continence, stoma management, infection control, and contract management) gives me a sound knowledge of the aged care market of which I now work in. I had previously worked at Atlas McNeil, prior to Atlas being purchased by Bunzl for 10 years as the Sales Manager for Aged Care, Hospital and Community, so I already had a good background knowledge of the company and was familiar with many of its customers.
Tell us about your role with Atlas McNeil Healthcare? What is your area of expertise?
As the National Corporate Account Manager, my role is to develop and build solid business relationships with the national corporate aged care groups that I look after. I am the point of contact for the various groups corporate head offices, and I liaise closely with their Procurement, Clinical, Governance & Quality key contacts. Part of this liaison is ensuring we have a thorough understanding of the head office requirements that I then filter through to Atlas McNeil account managers who look after those particular residential aged care sites. My role is to develop the business, making sure the head offices are kept informed of product developments, supply challenges and offering assistance to resource alternatives if required, reporting on KPIs and communicating information back from our Account Managers. A part of my role also includes undertaking aged care tenders as they present to secure new aged care groups business.
What most do you like about your role and why?
The variety of the role and building strong relationships through demonstration of service. No two days are the same as I manage 13 groups and each group has differing daily requirements. I enjoy liaising with our own Procurement, Customer Service, Finance, Logistics and Account Managers in making sure our service levels are maintained and exceeded. I also enjoy liaising with our manufacturers and suppliers and building these relationships to assist our customers with their needs.
When you started with AMH, what most surprised you?
The strong national presence Atlas McNeil had achieved and the large range of support services that had been developed to support its customers, for example the many facets of the unique Clinical Care Connections education programme offered to all levels of staff. Additionally, that providing excellent service is still valued by most of our customers.
What are some of the challenges the market is facing?
Residential aged care is facing staff shortages and a high volume of staff turnover, which means it’s critical that we as an organisation ensure we’re supporting our groups/facilities with information, making their lives easier with our process for ordering and ongoing education. The residential aged care sector is undergoing changes to how they are staffed and their care minutes, which means we need to be knowledgeable on this and be able to support, making processes more streamlined. There has been for the past few years ongoing disruption to the supply of products due to either manufacturing challenges or disruption to the shipping routes/ lack of container availability, which impacts our customers in their provision of care.
What are your main priorities for 2024?
Ensuring as a company our service levels for Corporate customers, and in fact all customers, continue to meet and exceed expectations. This is achieved through being understanding of needs, setting achievable client expectations and liaison with our many internal departments to ensure exceptional service is delivered through challenging supply chain times as mentioned above.
What do you expect the big industry trends to be of 2024?
Some big industry changes in the aged care service modelling of how care is delivered by staff and the greater choice residents have in deciding their care. The more holistic approach to aged care and keeping clients in their home for as long as possible as the ageing population continues to grow. An ongoing decrease in the number of smaller aged care providers which are taken up by larger groups.
What’s the biggest challenge facing the customers in the industry?
Ensuring they have the staff to provide the necessary care for their residents and additionally ensuring they have the products available to deliver the care needed when supply challenges present themselves.
What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned over the past 12-18 months?
To expect the unexpected and knowing how to best manage this when it occurs, so I can continue to provide the support our customers require in a timely manner.
Is there a message you’d like to share with your customers?
Atlas McNeil truly partners with its clients, and we are committed to understanding their ongoing requirements and formulating a plan together for the best outcome for their needs. Our business ethos is based on ensuring we can deliver the right products at the right time needed. We don’t limit our service to supply but provide a holistic approach to service, logistics and educational requirements.
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