Matt Green, Workforce Procurement Specialist at East of England NHS Collaborative Procurement Hub features in this month’s Get to know interview.
The Get to know series showcases staff from around the NHS Workforce Alliance (NHS WA) to give you a glimpse of the variety of roles in our organisation and the people who perform them.
What is your background?
I have 15 years clinical and managerial experience in healthcare, with 12 of those years in the NHS. I worked my way up from a support worker to nurse to ward manager, and I continue to be a registered mental health nurse. My most recent role in a trust was as Clinical Nurse Lead for Temporary Staffing and I believe my breadth of experience across the healthcare sector lends itself well to the primary aims and drivers of the NHS Workforce Alliance – understanding well the pressures and risks present on the wards and clinical teams we support.
In my personal life, and before children, I completed a cycle trip with my best friend from our home in Cornwall to India all over land (including a ferry across the channel before you ask…!).
What is your role within the NHS Workforce Alliance and what does it involve?
I am a Procurement Specialist in the East of England Hub Workforce team, and a lot of my role is providing advice and support on a range of workforce issues and projects. I also help with linking up key stakeholders and drafting contracts for their ongoing PSL reviews, insourcing projects and international recruitment drives. We have a strong link to the regional ICS groups too and we contribute to the development of a sustainable and pragmatic workforce solution using the NHS WA’s frameworks and resources.
Why are you passionate about this?
I am passionate to try and fulfil the demand for a trusted and safe workforce to the NHS, which I believe to be a cornerstone of our society and something to be extremely proud of. This will enable more effective care for patients and reduce the pressures on frontline staff. The cohort of frameworks and solutions available under the NHS WA allow me to offer multiple avenues of support and help release nurses’ time to deliver direct care, reduce burnout, and improve the position for trusts and Integrated Care Systems.
What is the greatest challenge you face at work?
I believe the greatest challenge to be those issues we have a limited ability to affect. I genuinely believe that our frameworks and solutions could support in full the requirements being asked of it to address the current workforce shortages and supply concerns we are seeing if some of the wider social issues could be addressed.
What was your first job and how has it impacted your career?
My first job at the ripe old age of 12 was as a paper boy, doing a round every day except Sunday. This led to working in the newsagents and then Tesco and McDonalds at the same time! This started off what I hope anyone who has worked with me will say is a good work ethic and drive to ensure I’m giving the best I can for myself, the team I’m in, and the organisation as a whole.
How would you spend a perfect day off?
My perfect day off would probably be boring to most! A late wake up by the children (anything after 7am would be nice) followed by a good coffee and full cooked breakfast. Then a day of activities like waterparks, a visit to the beach, trampoline parks or rock climbing with the family, and finishing with a taster menu at a decent restaurant with my wife followed by a craft ale pub.