Matthew Barker – 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 :

The Procurement Team have provided an exemplary service to the whole of Yorkshire Ambulance Trust over the past year. This team performance has been due in part to the inspirational leadership of Matt Barker. Matt has demonstrated a resourceful, un-flustered, dedicated, innovative and enthusiastic approach to his role throughout the pandemic. He has provided strong leadership to his team, role modelling the impact of hard work and determination. This has resulted in performance and delivery of a service to our frontline staff which has kept them safe and empowered them to provide the best care they can for patients. In doing so Matt has earned respect and recognition across the Trust as well as amongst his peers in the wider healthcare sector. There are many examples of where this has been demonstrated, but none more so than in Matt’s exemplary efforts to ensure our staff have been provided with appropriate personal protective equipment, particularly in the early months of the pandemic before issues regarding central supplies of PPE were resolved. He anticipated the challenges with regard to huge increases in demand for PPE, working tirelessly to ensure the Trust’s stock levels kept us “ahead of the game” whilst we awaited national distribution, as well as providing mutual aid to other Trusts. Matt has worked long hours, been available 7 days a week, even going into work late at night to accept deliveries of equipment required to keep our frontline staff safe; consistently leading by example. The challenges Matt’s team have faced have been non-stop; from securing supplies of PPE, to distributing thousands of lateral flow tests, to supporting the setup of vaccination centres. Matt has tirelessly led the team to ensure all of this has been delivered alongside the business as usual services the Trust require from the department. He has demonstrated an unwavering and sustained positive ‘can do’ attitude, espousing the behaviours the Trust values in order to empower our staff delivering direct patient care. I am proud to be associated with our Head of Procurement; he has been brilliant! Please see our nomination video here; https://vimeo.com/530242565/68b8722595