Pressure and funding

Interesting to see Boris Johnson (pictured) throwing his hat into the ‘more funding’ ring, reportedly calling for an extra £100m a week for the NHS. He was quickly slapped down, with the chancellor pointing out that Mr Johnson was the foreign secretary. That may be the case but Mr Johnson, like Mr Hammond, is a local constituency MP and backbench Tory MPs are feeling the pressure from constituents. Although Brexit dominates our political horizons, it is the NHS that dominates the here and now and remains at the very top of the political agenda.

I remain optimistic that these calls will be heeded after an unprecedented surge in activity. The question of how we pay for any increase in funding as a country is just something that needs to be tackled. The HFMA will continue to monitor the issue and comment appropriately.

However, two central concerns remain for us – how do we support our members in the current situation and what’s the long-term picture? What, for example, will be the state of the service when the NHS turns 100 in 2048?

The HFMA’s 2018 president, Alex Gild, asked the first question in his opening address to the annual conference – what can we do to support members?  Some of you are natural networkers, moving around HFMA and NHS circles to gather contacts and find support. But a significant number won’t be, so we want to ensure we can provide a system that allows members to just ‘plug in’. We’re discussing this at the moment and any ideas are more than welcome – email me at [email protected].

The second project we want to develop is to look at the ‘NHS at 100’. We all have a vested interest in this, but why do we spend our time lurching from one crisis to another? Commons Health Committee chair Sarah Wollaston has called for a long-term coordinated plan for health and social care. And discussion is growing around the need for a cross-party consensus. 

For our own part, we are committed to contribute to the debate and will take a look at key issues. These include how we make the most of IT in the future and the changing role of finance function as accountable care organisations and system working become the established business model.

It’s been a busy few weeks for the HFMA. Our new group of students is starting the HFMA qualification and the association is hosting the National Association of Primary Care’s new practice manager programme on its platform. 

We have run events with different faculties and our usual pre-accounts planning courses hit Manchester and London at the start of February. For those planning ahead, look out for the first release of our annual conference tickets.  We like to get them out early to enable you to secure your place well in advance.

Attending events – branch and national – and contributing to the association’s committees and work programmes remains vital to retaining a vibrant and informed finance function. While time out of the office is difficult in the current climate, staying up to date, sharing good practice and maintaining those networks is perhaps more important than ever right now.

We continue to value your support – let us know if we could do things differently or there are topics we should be covering.