Targeting apprenticeships

I’m delighted Caroline Clarke is now the chief executive of The Royal Free Group. Its turnover is way over £1bn and, although it has financial challenges, it is a model we could see more of moving forward. In the heart of London, it is one of the most influential roles in the country.

Caroline will be our 70th president commencing her term at the annual general meeting in December. She will be the third in my time to be a chief executive while holding the office of HFMA president following Sue Jacques in 2011/12 and Andy Hardy in 2013/14. Others subsequently became chief executives, such as Mark Millar, Keith Ford and Suzanne Tracey to name a few. It’s a well trodden career path.

In part, that is why we created our CEO Forum, which runs twice a year, to allow finance CEOs to continue to network via the HFMA and for us, in turn, to reach those not in finance. This is just one of the events we run for ‘non-core’ groups and we believe it is important to reach out to other parts of the NHS.

You may have noticed the booking rates for the annual conference are out. The closing date for the initial offer is 18 April. We’re open to special arrangements when you book five or more for the event as we’d like to see more executive teams there as well as deserving finance staff. So, it’s worth calling us if you get more than five in your group to see what’s available. We will be announcing key speakers throughout the year to whet your appetite.

The HFMA board got together at the start of last month for its first meeting of the year. We are indebted to our retiring trustees, Sue Jacques, Keely Firth, Huw Thomas and Ros Preen. And, of course, Tony Whitfield who sadly passed away at Christmas. However, we welcome an infusion of new talent into our ranks and they have made an immediate impact.

There were the usual discussions around our finances and current operations, all of which are pretty much on track, although nothing’s certain.

One of the main items of business was apprenticeships. The association has applied to be a training provider and hopes to be offering accountancy level 4 and business administration level 3 apprenticeships this year. The board agreed to set up a working group to take this forward, led by new vice president Owen Harkin.

We believe we have something to offer in this space that is unique and tailored to the health market. In the case of the accountancy level 4 apprenticeship standard, we can, for example, offer the ACCA diploma qualification (the first three exams of the full ACCA qualification) with extra specialist content from HFMA to contextualise it for health.

This is just one example of an apprenticeship we hope to be offering in September. For more details, email me at [email protected] and I’ll pass on your enquiry to our team.

As we move forward, it’s clear we are changing as an organisation. We want to remain relevant and vibrant, offering members the best technical and educational content.

Often that comes from the skills and knowledge of the members themselves and for that I offer a hearty thanks.