Mark in Action: customer nomination for saving lives

Sarah Smyth, Regional Customer Services Manager for Unipart’s NHS SCCL contract, received a Mark in Action award at the January ceremony following a nomination from the customer for her exceptional service when assisting Cambridgeshire Community Services (CCS) to find a solution to the national shortage of suction catheters.

In 2023, CCS was struggling to find a supply of suction catheters following a national shortage. Usually when a site has a shortage of supply, they can request or redirect supplies from neighbouring sites, however, due it being a national supply issue, this was not possible in this instance.

Sarah said: “The customer had been struggling with the disruption for a long time and they work with lots of children for which the suction catheters are essential to providing life-saving treatment. The customer got in contact and I was able to provide additional support over a number of months to find a solution to the problem.”

With her help, CCS has put in regular interventions and touch points to ensure they are getting what they need on a weekly basis. If there are any further problems Sarah responds to escalations to support CCS to get short-notice orders.

Sarah continued to support in changing the system in which the orders were submitted to help alleviate any continued issues.

“Previously, the customer would have placed an order when the stock was low, however with ongoing support, orders are now placed earlier to avoid shortages,” she said.

Sarah put in an exceptional effort and a considerable amount of extra time outside of normal working hours to manage the delivery of these in demand products, not only for CCS, but for the other customer contacts in her region.

Jordan Clover, Sarah’s customer contact from CCS, made the nomination and said: “Sarah’s communication, actions and attitude have always been above and beyond what is normally expected. She is one of the most helpful, friendliest and compassionate people I have met professionally and it is always a pleasure to work with her. She has always been able to solve problems or issues and be creative with suggestions.”

Sarah Young, Acting Customer Service Director, said: “I’m so super proud of Sarah for this award. And it's not just a wonderful reflection of what Sarah's done. It's a great reflection of others as a team. It’s great to see a spotlight on all the wonderful things that customer service helps our customers with.”

Following her nomination and subsequent win, Sarah said: “I’m so grateful for the customer to have gone out of their way to recognise the work that we have done. I’m very humbled. Our role is about getting the customer what they need in, and how, and when - not about the accolades. We perhaps don't see the importance of the support behind the scenes, we just make sure it gets done.

“The gravity of the situation really hit home when the customer shared that they couldn’t put a number on how many adults and children’s lives we had potentially saved by providing the additional support.”

Following on from her Mark in Action award, Sarah has also been selected to receive the King's Coronation Medal for her work preparing the NHS across London for the Coronation of Charles III.

The full Mark in Action ceremony from January 2024 is available to watch with this video link.

To nominate a Unipart employee or team for a Mark in Action award click here.

The next Mark in Action Ceremony will be held on Tuesday 26 March.