Magazine / Healthcare Finance March 2024

The March issue of Healthcare Finance puts a Welsh lens on the current pressures facing the NHS across the whole UK. Health boards started the year with significant planned deficits, requiring a major boost in funding mid-year from the Welsh government. But significant challenges remain in the years ahead, despite a generous settlement for 2024/25 relative to other areas of public spending. We talk to health board leaders about what is needed to deliver financial sustainability.

Elsewhere in the issue, we report on an HFMA roundtable, supported by AdviseInc, that explored the finance role in improving procurement. Key issues identified were the need for robust, reliable data and good analytics to understand what it means. But participants also called for a greater focus on the delivery of value over time rather than immediate costs. The magazine also examines the push for greater use of technology, and asks if NHS bodies are thinking enough about the impact of digital on the environment. And we look at a programme that aims to support finance managers in helping to address local health inequalities....plus all the usual news and analysis along with technical and careers updates.