Meeting your needs

The HFMA exists to meet the needs of health and social care finance professionals by influencing policy, promoting best practice and providing opportunities for you to develop and network. We believe we do a good job, but the true test is what members think about the support and services we offer. So, we recently asked members to give us their views in the latest of our regular member surveys.

First, thanks to all who took part. We had responses from about 10% of our core members. The vast majority are fully qualified senior finance managers – one in five are directors or deputy directors of finance. Half have been members for five years or more – an endorsement in itself. But, more important, more than 90% plan to continue membership – and more than half of those thinking of leaving will do so because they are retiring or have moved sector. And 90% said membership provided value for money and the vast majority would recommend it to colleagues.

That’s a gratifying response overall, but we were keen to learn more about what people valued about membership. Policy and technical publications, networking and Healthcare Finance magazine were seen as the top benefits, although webinars and weekly news alerts (and opinion blogs) also won praise.

It was good to see the HFMA app, myHFMA, recognised. We think this is a brilliant way of making our resources more accessible to you at your convenience. The free member app already puts our news services in your pocket, gives you access to all our publications and enables you to keep track of HFMA events. We plan to enhance this service with interactive elements – so if you haven’t downloaded it yet, consider it soon.

Most people think we get it about right on qualifications, blogs and events, but there are always opportunities to provide guidance and support across the complex area of healthcare finance and governance. With our own capacity limitations, we have to prioritise, but we are keen to hear from members – through technical committees and special interest groups or direct – if there are areas we aren’t addressing.

There is a clear appetite for more webinars and this is already in train. Although we need to be careful not to eliminate the networking opportunities members value so highly, we recognise the value of getting a quick update on key issues without having to leave the office.

People asked for better communication about getting involved with committees, so we will ensure we improve our signposting for this.

More than 90% of the respondents rated our policy and technical work as high or very high quality – though we know we must do more to make everyone aware of our outputs.

The relevance of topics was applauded, helped by members having an influence over the selection of projects. We again sought feedback on projects for the year ahead and our policy team will use this to finalise the programme.

As report cards go, it was very encouraging. However, we are not complacent. We will try to keep getting things right – but are reassured that you will tell us if we don’t.