Chris Walker is the Head of Risk & Compliance at NHS Supply Chain. Chris has been a valued Risk Leadership Network member for the last 12 months. We spoke to Chris and discussed his experiences in risk management and our network.
Meet Chris
1. Tell us about your role at NHS Supply Chain.
I head up the risk, assurance and compliance programmes at NHS Supply Chain and have been here for six years now. I’ve worked in risk management for over 20 years so the opportunity to bring everything I’ve learned in that time to help the NHS was what really attracted me to the role. Whilst I’ve not worked in healthcare or the public sector before, the risk management frameworks I’ve used elsewhere are easily transferable across industries, so the switch has been easier than I anticipated.
2. How did you get into risk management? And what do you enjoy about it?
Prior to working in risk management, I qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Coopers & Lybrand (now PwC). I started thinking more about risks (other than financial risk) whilst working with clients on various deals. From there, I have always looked for ways to develop my career within the risk landscape. Over the next twenty years, that led me to roles across all three Lines of Defence. More recently, I have gravitated back towards the second Line of Defence, which feels like my spiritual home.
3. Which parts of the job do you find the most challenging?
Working in the public sector can pose some specific challenges, particularly when trying to drive change quickly. Having said that, the people more than make up for those challenges with colleagues across the NHS all wanting to do the right thing so we can help the NHS deliver smarter, simpler, more connected care.
4. What are the main challenges facing risk leaders - and in your sector specifically?
What the country needs from the NHS is changing as the population ages and we’re all living longer. Therefore, what the NHS needs from its supply chain is also changing. The scale of change and the pace at which we need to deliver it is really challenging, especially as we can’t stop the day-to-day delivery of products and services to hospitals so we can focus on that change. Fortunately, we have a clear vision, and everyone is really focused on delivering that transformation.
5. “If I weren’t a risk leader, I would be…”
A pilot! I love to travel and experience new places and cultures, so being able to combine a career with the ability to do that would be my perfect job. Something tells me that pilots have to be pretty good managers of risk too.
A project in focus: developing an internal controls framework
6. Can you give a quick description of a project you’ve recently worked on and explain why it was a priority for you?
We're currently defining our internal controls framework, which is something that is getting increasing focus across the UK public sector at the moment given recent changes to the UK Corporate Governance Code (although UK public sector organisations aren't yet subject to the Code).
Public sector organisations often have similar challenges when it comes to risk management and I was keen to speak to others in the sector to benchmark and compare approaches.
7. Can you describe the process you went through to deliver results (including how Risk Leadership Network was involved)?
During one of our monthly Risk Leadership Network catch ups with Benedict, our Risk Engagement Manager, I outlined the work we are starting on internal controls. Benedict proposed a number of approaches to deliver insights and we chose to run a series of public sector cohort meetings.
He drafted up an agenda for the first meeting based on our conversation, which I approved, before approaching members and risk contacts in the public sector and organised the meeting in time to meet my internal timelines. When the group met, it was reassuring to talk to risk leaders who have similar challenges.
8. What impact has it had? And how did RLN help?
I've been able to use some of the insight people shared to shape the approach we are developing to internal controls assurance and to get buy-in internally. RLN was able to select the right participants for the meeting and facilitate the discussion to ensure all participants left with insight they could put into practice.
This was the first of a series of sector cohort meetings to support my risk objectives. This means I can check in regularly, sense checking my thinking and learning from peers.
NHS Supply Chain's membership with Risk Leadership Network
9. How long have you been a member of Risk Leadership Network? Why did you join?
We joined the network in September 2025 and had been talking to them for about 6-9 months before that. One of the reasons we joined was because RLN were happy to work with us even before we became members to help demonstrate the value the network could provide. They helped us work on a refresh of our principal risks that landed really well with our Executive Team and helped get membership finally approved.
10. What’s the biggest value add you get from membership?
We have a very lean second line risk team in an increasingly large and complicated business. As a result, the biggest value add we get from membership is having a dedicated relationship manager who is on hand to help drive our priorities forward … it’s like having an extra member of the team!
11. Aside from the internal controls work, can you describe a specific instance where Risk Leadership Network membership was a game changer?
We’ve recently introduced a new tier of risks to our framework (operational risks). As a result, we asked senior leaders to run risk identification exercises in their areas to help create the initial list of operational risks. Risk Leadership Network supported that work by providing a tailored summary from their horizon scanning tool to help our Risk Steering Group validate the initial list we had come up with. Reassuringly, their input confirmed our initial risks were covering the right things and gave us the confidence to adopt them relatively quickly.
12. If you were to estimate the impact of Risk Leadership Network membership, in terms of time or money, what would it be?
That’s hard to quantify, but I regularly refer to RLN as like having an extra person in the team (and one with a brilliant network of contacts you can tap into!)
13. What would you say to anyone thinking of joining Risk Leadership Network?
As a public sector organisation spending public money, we thought long and hard before joining Risk Leadership Network. It’s definitely been the right thing for us. The benefits we thought we’d get initially are all there… but there are lots of other benefits too. Being able to benchmark our approach with other risk leaders has made it easier for us to get buy-in across the business for enhancements to our risk framework and given us the confidence to implement changes quicker.
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