The Only National Awards For Non-Medical / Non-Clinical NHS Staff & Volunteers

Shah Miah joined NHS London Procurement Partnership (LPP) in late 2016 as an apprentice, with no procurement experience at all. In his own words he didn’t even know what procurement was! However, he quickly learned the basic concepts of procurement and the environment in which he was working; a customer-focused team which encourages NHS organisations to collaborate and get the best value for the patient and the taxpayer.

Shah adapted easily to working in a professional and busy environment. He got used to taking phone calls and dealing with customer queries very quickly. He treats customers and suppliers with respect and has had to deal with some difficult and challenging telephone calls, which he answers very professionally. Shah is always willing to take on tasks no matter what they are and completes them quickly, carefully and efficiently. He is a ”yes man” – I don’t think he has ever said ‘‘no’’ to anything we have asked him to do.

Shah is always willing to help other staff members and in the past few months he has taken on more demanding work. For example, he was asked to support the corporate process for managing income due from suppliers. Shortly we will be receiving an outstanding £400K payment from one supplier and to get to this stage, Shah had to have an ongoing and difficult conversation with the supplier, explaining their contractual requirements under the procurement framework.

Shah is now working to support more recent and younger apprentices in their work in their understanding of procurement and what we do for the NHS and the wider public sector.

“Winning an Unsung Hero Award felt really surreal. It’s the first time I actually felt that I had truly accomplished something that is meaningful and a step in the right direction in fulfilling my career aspirations” –  Shah Miah.