Cause for celebration

As many of you will have noted, this year marks the 70th anniversary of the association. We don’t have great detail about the formation of the association, but its foundation occurred following initial meetings in late 1949. Since then, the HFMA has been there for virtually all of the NHS’s history, from the introduction of prescription charges in 1952, through the creation of district general hospitals in the 1960s and the Griffiths Report in 1983, all the way to the most recent NHS long-term plan.

For those interested, you can read more about the association’s history in our booklet published for our 60th anniversary.

Who would have realised the impact the creation of the NHS would have? It has become a national institution, a shrine to British values, with finance tucked in the middle helping to move money round the system and enabling the service to stay within its voted financial envelope. It is a history worth celebrating. But an anniversary should also be an opportunity to think about where the service is going too.

Caroline Clarke, the association’s president for our 70th year, has set a theme for her time in office of Taking pride in our future. This clearly focuses on the future and how the finance function can ensure it helps build the service of tomorrow that meets the needs of patients and taxpayers. We will be holding a celebratory dinner in July, and the end of our anniversary year will be at the annual conference.

Those attending our main annual event this year will notice the new owners of the facility are investing a lot of money in refurbishment. As a result, there will be a slightly different feel to this year’s conference, with the whole of the front of the hotel effectively closed. However, this means we can use other parts of the facility for our conference activities and my team are spending lots of time working on ensuring this works well.

The early booker offer for annual conference is now available, giving you until the end of April to save 10% on the prices. We have been faced with some higher than average hotel price rises, but we’ve tried to hold down our part of the fee to make it as accessible as we can.

The other development is a new ‘twin ticket’ for delegates happy to share a bedroom. By purchasing a twin ticket, subject to availability, organisations can save £400 (or £200 per delegate). We must know the individuals’ names and be assured they are happy to share.

We are starting to think about the conference programme and if you have suggestions – especially sessions that would support the Taking pride in our future theme – please get in touch at [email protected].

We value all of the feedback we receive and are working hard to put together a line-up worth getting on the train for. I was proud of the superb programme for the 2019 event, which then had to be rewritten following the announcement of the general election and the withdrawal of key speakers. We can be confident those circumstances will not arise again this year.

We will strive to recreate the vibrancy of 2019 programme – there was a real buzz about the conference, which lots of people commented on.

Remember, it’s our 70th anniversary, so please book early and let’s all take pride in our future – together!