Rachel Murphy – Unsung Hero Awards

Nomination

Award Category:

Corporate Services

Individual or Team Nomination?

Individual

Qualifying Qualities

In these challenging times, nominators were asked to show how the nominee had demonstrated the following qualities:

Exceptional work ethic - going above and beyond their job description, especially in the past 12 months.
Outstanding achievement/s in work or outside of the organisation where relevant.
Drive for innovation and proactive leadership in these challenging times.
High level of interpersonal skills, such as kindness, empathy, loyalty and thoughtfulness to staff and patients.
A resilience considering Covid to their role and to the health and wellbeing of their colleagues.

Nominators Answer

Nominee's story :

South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust, is a regional provider of urgent and emergency care, our prime purpose is to respond to the immediate needs of our patients and to improve the health of the communities we serve. As a Trust, we: • Receive and respond to 999 calls from members of the public • Respond to urgent calls from healthcare professionals e.g. GPs • Receive and response to NHS 111 calls from members of the public We provide these services across the whole of the South East Coast region – Kent, Surrey, Sussex and parts of North East Hampshire and Berkshire Rachel Murphy is the Trust Project Accountant and responsible for managing the Capital Finance Programme. She is responsible for ensuring that all Capital Projects remain on track. The effects of COVID have in some cases tripled the work that normally Rachel would be undertaking. A specialist COVID Management Group was set up in March 2020 and every COVID related activity and decision was tracked. There were 97 sperate business cases that Rachel had to review, write or contribute to this past financial year, which amounted to over £150m. Rachel was responsible for ensuring that the governance surrounding every request had been followed, that budgets were available, and that outcomes were met in line with our statutory obligations and aligned to our Standing Financial Instructions. This COVID related investments were key to the delivery of patient care as they provided frontline staff with the equipment, premises, vehicles and PPE that was needed to ensure the response was maintained. Rachel has also provided support to over 20 Business Case Meetings this past year to ensure requests for funding and purchasing are carried out and due diligence is undertaken. She ensures that that all options are presented to provide best value for money and that accountable owners are kept informed of decision making as part of the process. In addition to the COVID related issues, the Trust has invested in a major build programme this past year, with a new Make Ready Centre at Brighton and two new Make Ready Centres underway at both Banstead in Surrey and Medway in Kent. As part of her role Rachel manages will track financial progress and ensure that all elements of capital and revenue funding are captured and reported. The impact of COVID brought significant impact to some of our building projects particularly in the early days when construction was stopped by the lockdown, and latterly when the supply of material was impacted by the pandemic and EU Exit. Without the investment in our Fleet and Buildings, we would not be able to provide the essential services we do, despite the extra activity that Rachel has undertaken this year in relation to COVID, she has remained a resilient and capable team member, she is an excellent and astute Accountant and an asset to the Trust. Rachel has also achieved this phenomenal task whilst managing her young family. This is was particularly challenging when schools were closed.