NHS Inventory team hit record milestone for Mark in Action win

The Inventory Management team was awarded a Mark in Action award in August after reaching an internal target for the department to achieve 100% First Hit Service Level to the customer.

On 24 February 2023, this Inventory Team achieved 100% service for the day. This consisted of 23,116 individual requisitions (order lines) being supplied at 100%. This was the first time this had been achieved in the 35 year history of the NHS Supply Chain, and showed the power of working The Unipart Way.

The team had the strategic outlook and set themselves challenging goals which were picked up, developed and harnessed by the managers and teams who have challenged themselves and reached what seemed to be the impossible. This drive, passion and commitment has been embedded within the team with all aspects of the daily tasks being reviewed and improved including supplier management, internal relationships and processes.

Watch Lisa Duffy in the video below explain the reasons for her nomination.

Gemma Fottles, Inventory Manager said: “It really boosted morale not just in our small team, which won the Mark in Action Award, but across the whole Inventory department as well. It made everybody extremely proud and it just goes to show everybody that if you really put your mind to it and you’re determined, you can achieve it.

“When the initial target was set out by the Head of Inventory to achieve 100% service, we all thought it would never happen. But actually, we’ve proven that you can. It's just that the morale of being part of the team who achieved that has just been absolutely fantastic. It really helps the team drive to achieve good, strong service every day.”

The Inventory Management team are still striving for more, and hope to achieve subsequent 100% service days. After that, they hope to achieve a 100% service level for a week.

Gemma added: “My drive is to always achieve 100%. We've really pushed and had that mentality in our team that we're going to be the first but for the team to just really get hold of it, run with it and push as hard as they've done is incredible.

“It makes me beyond proud of such a small team, being able to achieve such fantastic service for the end customer. I’m immensely proud of them all for what they have achieved.”

The full Mark in Action ceremony from August 2023 is available to watch with this video link.

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