Comment / Adding value

March was an interesting month as we continued to be busy with the usual association business.  It’s quite clear from the calls my colleagues are making to secure last-minute contracts that there is less money in the system this year. We believe the position will tighten further next year, with very real pressure in 2015/16.  So it’s encouraging that so many finance teams continue to recognise the value of what we provide and to invest in what we’re doing. The training and development, technical support and networking we offer is a fundamental part of ensuring every individual can provide their best in ensuring services remain sustainable.

This year has been one of substantial investment for HFMA, so much so that we are unlikely to make much of a surplus for this financial year.  Since January last year we have added some weighty technical resources into our executive staff, most notably Paul Briddock, our new policy director, Emma Knowles and Richard Edwards on the policy/research side, and Debbie Paterson as part of the technical team. 

We have also seconded Scott Hodgson into HFMA two days a week to help out with our important work on costing. In addition, we have added a marketing director, Simon Dolph, and hope to add a couple of extra marketing staff to our team. Simon is spearheading our efforts to increase membership, develop our brand and ensure our voice is heard.

I am sure you will agree these are worthwhile investments as HFMA looks to progress as a professional body.

We have also made a substantial investment in 110 Rochester Row to create a really wonderful space to hold meetings and where we can sell our meeting space to commercial (and NHS) organisations (see page 31 for more details). Members can call in between office hours for a cup of tea, or go there to check e-mails or meet colleagues (although access to meeting rooms is a chargeable feature). 

As part of its April meeting, the HFMA board will be discussing the association’s new strategy for the future. This must take account of the Future focused finance initiative, which got off to a great start with national roadshows across England last month. The HFMA is a key player in this initiative and we are fully supportive of all the efforts of the FFF team. Its aims and work streams are reflected in our own policy priorities and our president Andy Hardy’s theme for the year, ‘Leading by numbers’.

The FFF work stream on providing a ‘great place to work’ is also close to the HFMA’s heart. Our finance staff attitudes survey – published alongside our biennial finance function census with NHS Finance Skills Development – shows that staff already have high job satisfaction and have deliberately chosen to work in the NHS because of their own public service values and the desire to improve patient care. But there is clear concern that the role of finance is not understood or properly valued outside of the finance department.

There are increasing levels of clinical-financial engagement across the NHS and a developing mutual understanding of the roles and contributions each provides. But we also need to ensure that this understanding stretches across the NHS and beyond. It is an issue the HFMA is keen to address alongside or as part of the work taken forward by the FFF initiative.