HfMA

Efficiency Award

Endorsed and sponsored by

The drive for improved efficiency in UK healthcare services remains as strong as ever. While many healthcare organisations are returning surpluses currently, this is often earmarked for service development. The return to more traditional levels of growth in national settlements coupled with demanding national efficiency targets means organisations need to find ways of improving the value for money and quality of the healthcare they commission and/or deliver.  The HFMA Efficiency Award will focus on the role of finance in supporting the delivery of improvements in efficiency. It seeks to recognie innovative approaches to cost improvement either within a specific service or activity or across the whole organisation.

Entry Requirements:

A statement of up to 1,000 words setting out:

• (For provider Trusts) How a member or members of the finance team have led or supported work to improve the efficiency of services provided by the organisation ;
• (For Commissioning organisations) How improvements in commissioning have led to improved services for patients and better efficiency or use of resources (Nominations from Commissioners may also include examples of improvement in efficiency of their provider arm services); 
• An assessment of the impact on the service and/or costs; and
• The problems encountered and overcome in delivering the improvement in efficiency.

Efficiency for the purposes of this award is defined as either:

• A reduction in the unit cost associated with the delivery of a service; or
• A significant improvement in the quality of a service clearly disproportionate with any increase in cost; or
• A combination of the above.

Entry Criteria:

The Award will be made to the organisation that best demonstrates:

• The scale of efficiency gain
• The degree of innovation shown
• The extent to which finance staff were involved with the delivery

The Judges

Keith Wood , Chairman, HFMA Financial Management & Research Committee

Andy McKeon , Managing Director - Healthcare, Audit Commission

Sue Lorimer , Director of Finance, Liverpool Women's NHS Foundation Trust

Richard Pinder, Finance Director, Pulse Staffing Limited

Closing date for nominations is Friday 26^th September 2008.  To download the 2008 Award Brochure, or to nominate click here