Annual conference / HFMA annual conference 2023

HFMA members, associates and friends come together again for the biggest and most prestigious HFMA event of the NHS finance calendar. It's almost time to network with peers, get inspired by our on-stage content and learn about innovation and collaboration across the healthcare sector.
The focus of this year's conference will be working as one, and will include topics like the national virtual wards programme, social finance, international updates from HFMA across the world, the future of outpatient care, mentorships, digital technologies and dementia patient support.
We will be starting this event with a series of online leaning labs on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday morning then, from Wednesday afternoon to Friday, we will be running hybrid from the Hilton Metropole in London.
Across the five days, we will hear from our keynote speakers, Brendan hall – global explorer, Jon Sopel – co-host of The News Agents podcast and Mary Portas – British retail consultant and broadcaster.
Train strikes
Strike action has been announced between Friday 1 - Saturday 9 December. These strikes involve different train operators on each day and your specific route may remain unaffected during this period. Please check for the most up to date information before you start your journey.
Alternative travel - consider booking a coach! It's carbon dioxide emissions are lower than rail and National Express offer extensive route options to London.
Our programme timings remain unchanged and all sessions are being streamed online and will be available on-demand.
Programme
Brendan is one of only ten people in the world to lead the winning team in the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race – an epic ten month long, 40,000 mile ocean sailing race around the planet where the strongest teamwork always wins. Although Brendan was the youngest and least experienced skipper in the race, his team won it in convincing fashion. They didn’t win because Brendan was the best sailor or strategist, but because he created the most engaged and empowered on-board culture, with a compelling vision, strong values and a continuous-improvement mindset.
Katy will explore the fundamental principles of social investment, focusing on its application in the NHS and the statutory sector through insights gained from Social Finance's extensive experience. Learn how social investment can play a pivotal role in supporting transformative efforts for systems facing financial deficits, and about the future trajectory of social investment.
The NHS Long Term Plan committed to accelerate the uptake of selected innovative medical devices, diagnostics, and digital products, by developing the MedTech Funding Mandate (MTFM) policy that launched on 1 April 2021. The MTFM aims to ensure patients and the NHS benefit from clinically effective and cost saving medical technologies faster and more equitably.
Sarah will join delegates today to provide an overview of the MTFM and how it can be utilised. By drawing on current NHS case studies, she will reflect on some of the technologies adopted since it’s inception and the impact on patient experience. The total savings generated by the policy to date are over £5 million.
Sarah will also announce future plans for the MTFM including future funding provision, how this will be allocated and how you can get involved.
This learning lab is part of the HFMA Delivering Value with Digital Technologies workstream.
This session will highlight tax issues relevant to NHS finance staff, including VAT issues, IR35, hybrid working as well as tax issues highlighted in the government’s Autumn statement on the 22nd November.
With the ongoing focus on recovery of care backlogs, efficiency improvements and unprecedented savings targets, NHS Supply Chain continually strives to deliver a resilient procurement and supply chain service, enabling the NHS to deliver safe and excellent patient care.
By collaborating with system partners across finance, procurement and clinical teams NHS Supply Chain remains focused on driving efficiencies with the NHS. Presenting with Sue Colbeck, chief procurement officer at Cheshire and Merseyside ICB, Hamish Makanji will share recent collaboration successes and plans to drive greater incremental value back to the NHS.
In this session Teena and Theresa will share details of joint work with NHS England to develop a future of outpatient care strategy and discuss the impact on commissioning. The session will look at what the strategy is aiming to achieve, the workstreams taking place, the key messages from the recent engagement summits and discuss the publication of the strategy.
Sharing financial information with budget holders in a clear, understandable way is a challenge faced widely across the health service. In a healthcare landscape where a number of different healthcare organisations need to work collaboratively to deliver the best possible care for patients, being able to access data in a consistent, up-to-date and informative way is essential. In this session James and Kim will talk through the development of an NEP system which through simple dashboards and functionality give examples of the art of the possible. The session will also include details of how Harrogate approached the implementation of the system and the benefits now being realised.
During this session, David will give an update on the virtual wards programme, which helps support patients receive acute care treatment within their own homes, rather than receiving treatment in hospital.
David will give an overview of the programme, where it is now, the future plans and a summary of the growing evidence base.
In this session, Dily and Gemma will be talking about their experiences and the support that bands 2 – 6 receive including the benefits of being band 2 – 6 members of HFMA, the networking they have been involved in and what they are doing locally with other band 2 – 6 staff.
Aqua is working with NHS Horizons to support the awareness raising and understanding around NHS Impact.
NHS IMPACT (Improving Patient Care Together) was launched earlier this year aiming to support all NHS organisations, systems and providers at every level, including NHS England, to have the skills and techniques to deliver continuous improvement.
In this session, Kathryn will provide an overview of NHS Impact and how it can create the right conditions for continuous improvement and high performance, responding to today’s challenges, and delivering better care for patients and better outcomes for communities.
In this session learn from a tragic K2 expedition and how to set clear organisational change outcomes. Gain insights into neuroscience and how to plan a ‘brain friendly’ organisation change programme using the latest change methods.
Join Andrea and Grace to learn about the new NHS finance inclusive talent management model launched in July 2023, designed to help all staff access formalised talent conversations and development plans. This workshop session will include how this strategy directly impacts your role, offering career development and progression benefits. It will explore the advantages it brings to organisations and senior leaders in terms of recruitment and retention processes. The session is open to all audience levels, including CFOs, line managers, and those seeking development opportunities.
There are various ways that finance teams are helping to improve health inequalities, whether that be through targeted investments, money allocation, efficiency programmes or as part of a transformation project.
Creating the case for change can be challenging in a resource constrained environment but this learning lab session will provide attendees with various current examples from within the NHS who are successfully addressing health inequalities through their decision making and financial strategy.
In this session, Therese and Emily will provide an overview of the HFMA’s health inequalities workstream, sharing current examples and discussing how these fit in to the overall financial strategy, commissioning approach and future direction of travel in the NHS.
Learn about University Hospitals Birmingham’s exciting journey to transform their back-office Finance Operations using a modern cloud-based platform from SAP.
In this session, you will hear from Sarah Thomas as Programme SRO supported by Julian Miller as Executive Sponsor and Rob Bennett as Programme Director. You will hear about the exciting journey they have embarked on to replace multiple, disparate and ageing on premise legacy systems with a high TCO, to a modern cloud-based solution, SAP S/4 HANA.
This is a first of type solution in the NHS; it will provide a fully integrated system across Finance, Logistics, Warehousing, Procurement, and Analytics and will deliver significant long-term benefits in the efficiency and productivity of these teams, through automation, streamlined processes, improved data quality, and better financial controls and reporting for the whole Trust.
UHB will share their experiences to date and progress made towards this large transformation in Corporate services and how, working in partnership with NTT DATA and SAP, they have addressed challenges ranging across technology, people, data migration and importantly the wider organisational readiness.
How can immediate financial pressures be addressed through action on prevention and using allocative value?
Professor Sanjay Agrawal will set the scene on the power of preventative interventions to increase the efficiency of health services and introduce inpatient smoking cessation (tobacco dependence treatment) services as an example of how savings can be made in practice. He’ll also introduce a return-on-investment tool to help you estimate the impact of in your organisation or system. You will then hear 2 case studies of inpatient tobacco dependence treatment services: Dr Matthew Evison will present the business case and local data (including in-year savings) for inpatient stop smoking services in Greater Manchester and Dr Gillian Lowry will show how what has been achieved in Derby with funding from NHS England for inpatient stop smoking services.
The session will be interactive with time for questions and for panellists to hear your views on investing in prevention. Resources will be made available beforehand so that you can come prepared.
The NHS spends more than £30bn a year on goods and services with more than £10bn spent on consumables . Given the significant financial challenges facing the NHS, getting the best possible value out of this spend can help to maximize the resources available to support frontline care.
An HFMA roundtable will discuss the finance role in delivering better value from procurement and the data needed to inform procurement decisions. It will explore the data that is available within providers and systems, as well as national benchmarking data. It will look at the opportunities to compare costs and outcomes across different organisations, and whether finance teams are making the most of the information that is available.
Topics covered by the roundtable are expected to include:
• Opportunities to improve value
• Delivery models
• Wider Benefits
• Recording outcomes
Spaces are limited - if you would like to be part of this roundtable discussion please email: [email protected].
Meenu and Janet discussed the practical steps they've taken at the Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust to minimize their carbon footprint within clinical services. They shared insights on harnessing the power of carbon champions, rallying clinical colleagues and the executive team to support environmental changes, fostering clear and engaging dialogue with stakeholders to secure buy-in, and highlighting instances where carbon reduction initiatives have coincided with cost savings.
This REPLAY session was from the HFMA Hub’s environmental sustainability conference 2023 on 12 October 2023.
This session will feature two case studies from Australia. The first of these looks at the provision of cancer services and the impact adopting patient reported outcome measurement has had on patient outcomes, quality and costs. The second case study focuses on dental services and will share details of a value-based cost and payment model which aims to promote the use of high value services. For both case studies, the speakers will give an overview of the projects including the challenges faced and lessons learnt from the results so far.
This is a replay session from the Healthcare Costing for Value Institute International value symposium which took place on 5 October 2023. For more information on the Healthcare Costing for Value Institute, please visit www.hfma.org.uk/healthcare-costing-value-institute
The NHS is currently going through vast amounts of change, from the creation of the 42 ICBs and other integrated systems, all the way to the restructuring of individual teams. This can leave those affected feeling like they are aren’t comfortable in their roles and are unable to perform as well as they would like.
Kate and Joscelyn will talk to us about their experiences in navigating organisational change and will share their learnings in making it feel more manageable for those impacted by the change.
This REPLAY session was from the HFMA members’ summer series event which took place from 20-22 June 2023.
Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust is the largest NHS trust in the country with 10 hospitals employing over 28,000 staff and in September 2022 they went live with their Electronic Patient Record (EPR). Powered by Epic and called HIVE, this was the largest EPR go live in Europe, making this one of the biggest and most ambitious transformation projects in the history of the NHS. Now almost a year on, Jacqui Cooper, CNIO at the trust will join us to reflect on their journey from inception, through to implementation, with a particular focus on the subsequent change in working culture. With a transformation project of this scale, the go live date was just the beginning, the real challenge came in the months that followed. In this session, Jacqui will explore what came next and how they and other leaders came together to train and lead staff to adapt their working practices and engage with the software.
This REPLAY session was an HFMA webinar which took place on 13 October 2023.
Strength in numbers - reflections on the year
Jacqui Rock, Chief Commercial Officer, NHS England will discuss the work taking place in NHS Commercial to realise significant commercial efficiencies across the NHS, for reinvestment in patient care. This includes NHS England’s recent publication of the Strategic Framework for NHS Commercial, which formalises the NHS’s ambitions to drive the best value for money for the taxpayer, identify commercial efficiencies for the NHS, drive collaboration and professionalise its commercial workforce.
Jacqui will discuss how this, in addition to NHS England’s ongoing work to reform the framework landscape, is supporting the NHS to leverage its purchasing power.
Join representatives from NHS England as they discuss and share outcomes from the NHS People Promise Exemplar Programme led by the National Retention Team.
This programme supports 23 trusts across England to deliver a ‘bundle’ of actions that has helped to create sustained gains across the whole workforce, improving the retention of staff and therefore workforce productivity, through the implementation of the seven elements of the NHS People Promise. Together with colleagues from some of the 23 organisations, the team will share best practice and takeaways for helping our NHS people to stay and stay well.
Established in April 2020, NHS England’s People Directorate leads the programme and works to improve staff experience and the retention of our NHS people. The programme works nationally as well as across all seven regions to support and help organisations and systems achieve real tangible improvements in staff retention.
In this session Em and Ronke with provide an overview of the programme, outlining the retention initiatives currently being adopted across the system with measurable outcomes. They will also look to the future ambitions for the programme as well as other strands of the people plan under their remit.
The NHS Finance Insights Placement scheme was initiated as a pilot in London to attract and support diverse young talent for NHS finance roles. It offers paid work experience to those from lower socio-economic backgrounds, aligning with the goals set in the NHS Finance EDI Action-Plan.
After a successful pilot, CFO lead Tom Shearer will discuss the scheme's benefits and its expansion to all seven NHS England regions, inviting leaders in attendance to sign-up to deliver this locally.
Professor Bola Owolabi MRCGP MFPH(Hon) is Director of the National Healthcare Inequalities Improvement Programme at NHS England. She works as a General Practitioner (Family Physician) in the Midlands region of England. She is Honorary Professor at the Institute of Applied Health Research, College of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Birmingham UK.
Bola has particular interest in reducing healthcare inequalities through Integrated Care Models, Service Transformation and using data and insights for Quality Improvement. She spearheaded NHS England’s Core20PLUS5 approach to narrowing healthcare inequalities. She was until recently, National Specialty Advisor for Older People and Integrated Person Centred Care at NHS England where she led the Anticipatory Care Workstream of the National Ageing Well Programme. She has worked with teams across NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care as part of the Covid 19 Pandemic response.
President's reflections
**Pre-booking required: https://forms.office.com/e/wGpNjj02nC
Stephanie's classes focus on breath awareness combined with physically challenging sequences. She uses music and the alignment of breath to a slow steady 4-beat rhythm to create a moving meditation.
The class is taking place in Mezzanine 7.
Due to limited availability, the class must be pre-booked.
*SIGN UP REQUIRED: https://forms.office.com/e/HMrDvwPvNM
The integration of health and care has long been at the heart of local and national conversation in the NHS. Delivering care seamlessly across hospitals, mental health services, community providers, social care, primary care, and wider partners such as the voluntary sector – is an established ambition nationally as well as locally. Yet, transitioning from ambition to delivery is one of the biggest challenges facing policymakers, system leaders, and frontline teams.
In order to focus efforts and to work at a scale where integration will have the biggest impact on service delivery, the importance of place has been strongly advocated in national policy frameworks. Place-based working, and the increasing use of pooled budgets, is seen as a key mechanism in the delivery of the ICB aims. HFMA and Newton have been working together to explore how finance leaders can deliver at place level. A focus on place allows a tangible and practical scale for staff and leaders to design new services and models of care, and to work together to deliver better outcomes for the local population.
Our panel will draw on their experiences to date of how finance leaders across health and care systems can drive change at place to deliver value, maximise impact, and support systems in delivering the best outcomes for the people they support.
HFMA AGM
Claire will introduce her presidential theme, 'working as one', highlight the aspects and initiatives she will be focusing on in the coming year.
From the steps of Downing Street to the inside of the White House press briefing room, Jon Sopel has spent four decades reporting on global events and interviewing the people who tried to shape them.
In February 2022, Jon announced he was leaving the BBC to launch The News Agents Podcast alongside Lewis Goodall and Emily Maitlis.
Jon Sopel will join us to provide an insightful analysis of the NHS within the political landscape. He elucidates the historical, present, and future challenges faced by the NHS, intertwining the critical role of political decisions and healthcare policies.
Sopel addresses the complex interplay between political decisions, funding allocations, and the practical implications for healthcare delivery within the NHS. He highlights the impact of various political ideologies, party policies, and governmental strategies on the functioning and sustainability of the healthcare system.
The NHS Digital Academy is the directorate responsible for supporting the roll out of digital services across the NHS. In this session, James will discuss some of the ambitions for the NHS digital agenda and outline why NHS finance professionals need to be engaged in the conversation.
Dr Simon Rickaby is a radiologist who also has a passion for artificial intelligence. Alongside his clinical role, he is also responsible for developing the digital strategy for radiology in South West London and is part of the South West London AI in Radiology Group. This is a research group working with both NHS and private organisations to support the procurement and adoption of artificial intelligence in the NHS. With so many AI solutions on offer, in this session Dr Rickaby will outline the benefits of using AI in healthcare for patients as well as untangling the challenges associated with procuring an AI tool to use within the NHS.
As a clinician now working in a digital role as an Executive Chief Digital Officer, Jon will explore the practicalities of delivering the digital plans and touch on some of the barriers as well as highlighting what is going well and why it’s important to continue despite the barriers.
Claire will join delegates today to discuss the role of finance teams and the importance of the relationships with the digital teams, measuring value and business case development.
This fireside chat will include perspectives from our sister HFMA organisations, both in the US and Australia. We will begin with a short overview from Dennis, who is the incoming president of HFMA US as well as CFO of the world-renowned Mayo clinic.
Ross, the incoming HFMA Australia president will provide an overview of the Australian system and alongside Paul, will look to highlight the current issues and differences between their systems and the UK. There will be opportunity for questions and discussion, we hope attendees come away with different perspectives that could be applied at home.
In early 2020, the idea for the first virtual hospital in Sydney was discussed: a hospital that would be completely virtual, have its own employees and a small site but no actual beds or outpatient unit. Miranda will join us to explore the journey from an idea, through to the establishment of the hospital during the pandemic to now, reflecting on how the virtual hospital is developing new models of care in the community. She will explore how, through the use of pilots across various pathways, they are expanding the services offered by the hospital, she will also discuss the challenges presented around digital literacy and community outreach.
Since it’s inception the virtual hospital programme has treated over 66,000 patients and has capacity to support up to 2,800 patients a day across the whole of the health district.
Drawing from her extensive experience and understanding of the healthcare sector, former Secretary of State for Health, Patricia Hewitt will dive into the core elements of the 'Hewitt review' unveiling the multifaceted nature of financial complexities within the NHS.
Hewitt emphasises the imperative for a strategic, collaborative response from the NHS finance community. She highlights the pivotal role this community holds in effecting positive change, not only in terms of financial management but also in driving innovation, improving patient care, and ensuring the efficient allocation of resources.
Hewitt stresses the importance of leveraging technology, embracing best practices, and adopting a forward-thinking approach to financial planning within the NHS. Her insights serve as a roadmap for a more robust, financially sound, and patient-centric NHS and this session offers an opportunity for discussion with attendees.
In this short panel session, financial leaders from across the system will join Patricia to take questions from the audience and explore what working as one means in practice. With a look to the future of healthcare delivery taking into consideration the recommendations of the Hewitt review as well as all learning from today’s session.
Claire will the close the day, reflecting on the sessions and topics that resonated with her.
**Pre-booking required: https://forms.office.com/e/QWYsGpL1iF
Join us for a morning meditation, take a moment to reflect before divining into the final day of the conference.
The meditation is taking place in Mezzanine 7.
Due to limited availability, the meditation must be pre-booked.
Claire Wilson will open the final day of the annual conference.
Dr Kate Allatt’s unique, interactive session is an inspirational masterclass on digital health, resiliency and patient experience.
Her engaging, funny and mind-blowing storytelling illustrates resiliency in practice. Kate will explain the importance of relationships, communication, cognitive bias and health inequalities and give you a toolkit to help you be more can bounce back fitter and stronger to adversity.
In this session, Julian will provide a national finance update on behalf of NHS England, identifying the national priorities and areas of focus for the NHS finance community in the year ahead.
Suzanne Tracey will journey with Mary on an intriguing conversation, gleaning insights into leadership, organisation culture and community, and exploring questions around impacts on wider social value.
Keynote speakers

Interim chief executive and chief finance officer NHS Devon Integrated Care Board

Director of the national healthcare inequalities improvement programme, NHS England and GP

HFMA vice president and director of finance Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care Board

National director for people NHS England

Chief commercial officer NHS England

Chief financial officer NHS England

TEDx speaker, researcher

HFMA president 2022/23 and group chief financial officer Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and North Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust

Finance director, Portsmouth Hospital University Trust and past HFMA president

Retail consultant and broadcaster

Chair NHS Norfolk and Waveney Integrated Care Board

Director of culture transformation NHS England

Former HFMA president and chief executive officer Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust

Chief finance officer Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust
Event resources
Accommodation at the Hilton is now sold out on Wednesday 6 and Thursday 7 December. For alternative accommodation options in the area: https://map.closer2event.com/?event=HFMA2023
The HFMA aims to embed sustainability into everything it does and to be a responsible organisation. Our environmental focus for our flagship event is centered around four themes: transport, energy, waste reduction and suppliers. The actions we're taking this year include: offsetting our carbon emissions with our venue partner, the Hilton London Metropole; working with our AV partner to design out energy wastage; using a carbon neutral printers, for all of our printed materials. Find out all the steps we're taking and how you can contribute.
As part of this year's HFMA annual conference programme, there are several sessions which have been developed in conjunction with HFMA's ongoing topics of interest - delivering value with digital technologies. Further reading and to learn more about future ambitions for the year ahead: Delivering value with digital technologies 2024 | HFMA
- Those with online event access will receive an email from HFMA ([email protected]) containing their unique access link to the online event platform the week before the event start
- You won't be able to access any of the content until the event starts
- We advise using Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox or Microsoft Edge browsers. You can send this document to your IT team if you are having technical issues.
- Please see our FAQs or email [email protected] if you have any issues accessing the event
- Please log in from 09.45 on Monday ready for the first session to start at 10.00.
We have a new programme of scheduled activities and individual challenges over the course of the face-to-face event, to help you stay well, focused and energised. This includes a yoga session on Wednesday 6 December and a mindfulness and mediation session on Friday 8 December. Spaces are limited and allocated on a first come first served basis. More information and how to book.
Prices
Day tickets are available to purchase. Accommodation and dinner packages are sold out. Alternative accommodation options are available via the 'other event activity' section above.
- Hub partner NHS price (excluding VAT)
- Band 1: Trusts with a turnover above £300 million
- £3,381
- Band 2: Trusts with a turnover below £300 million, CSUs and ICBs.
- £2,029
- Band 3: ALBs and devolved nations
- £1,352
- Non-Hub partner NHS (excluding VAT)
- Band 1: Trusts with a turnover above £300 million
- £4,057
- Band 2: Trusts with a turnover below £300 million, CSUs and ICBs.
- £2,434
- Band 3: ALBs and devolved nations
- £1,623
- Hub partner NHS price (excluding VAT*)
- Option 1: Full conference day ticket (no dinner or accommodation)
- £977.00
- Option 2A: Wed-Thu day ticket (no dinner or accommodation)
- £789.00
- Option 2B: Thu-Fri day ticket (no dinner or accommodation)
- £803.00
- Option 3A: Wednesday day only
- £440.00
- Option 3B: Thursday day only
- £550.00
- Option 3C: Friday day only
- £440.00
- Non-Hub partner NHS (excluding VAT*)
- Option 1: Full conference day ticket (no dinner or accommodation)
- £1223.00
- Option 2A: Wed-Thu day ticket (no dinner or accommodation)
- £967.00
- Option 2B: Thu-Fri day ticket (no dinner or accommodation)
- £993.00
- Option 3A: Wednesday day only
- £528.00
- Option 3B: Thursday day only
- £660.00
- Option 3C: Friday day only
- £528.00
NOTE: DINNER AND ACCOMMODATION PACKAGES ARE NOW SOLD OUT!
NOTE: DINNER AND ACCOMMODATION PACKAGES ARE NOW SOLD OUT!
* Limited accommodation packages as well as day tickets are available. Where accommodation is included this includes VAT. Tickets can be purchased without accommodation; BnB nights are a bookable extra when registering. The HFMA sells accommodation on behalf of the venue. For alternative accommodation options please click here.
ꝉ The applicable dinner(s) are included in the rate quoted for face-to-face tickets. Tickets can be purchased without dinners at the point of registration.
Sponsorship and exhibition opportunities
Speak to a member of our team today.
Refunds on early and standard booker rates are available until 31 October 2023. Refunds are not available for super early bird bookings made on or before 21 April 2023 or for late rate bookings made after 1 November 2023. Substitutions can be made at any time.
For online licences, the package includes online access for the entire five-day event and provides access for your finance team of up to 50 places. If your organisation requires more than 50 places please get in touch with us: [email protected].
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