Financial Management Award

The HFMA Financial Management Award will again focus on the finance role in supporting the delivering of improvements in efficiency. It is intended that there will be two categories within the award: one for PCTs and one for NHS Trusts and NHS Foundation Trusts. The award will be managed by the HFMA’s Financial Management and Research committee.

Further detail on this Award can be found in HFMA’s 2007 Awards brochure.

PCT winner: Bromley Primary Care Trust


Bromley Primary Care Trust won the Financial Management Award in recognition of an initiative that included an £11.8m cost improvement programme in 2006/07. Following a review of its finance department, the PCT restructured to shift its focus from transaction processing to strategic financial planning. Transaction processing was outsourced to NHS Shared Business Services and some of the savings used to bring in more experienced finance staff, who helped deliver the cost improvement programme.

Finance director Marie Farrell said: ‘This is a great achievement not just for the finance department but for the whole of the organisation. We are now looking to consolidate on our performance and focus on the quality of patient care.’

Efficiency and better patient care went hand in hand when Devon Partnership NHS Trust redesigned its adult and older adults’ mental health ward configurations and staffing, together with its community mental health services. The finance team led the process, working closely with clinicians. A major funding gap at the beginning of 2006/07 prompted a recovery plan that was put together using analysis of individual services’ position against national reference costs. In the first year, savings of more than £3m were achieved and in the current year (at month five) savings are forecast to be in excess of £8m.