News / Hardy takes presidential role

New HFMA president Andy Hardy has urged finance professionals to provide leadership and help non-finance colleagues understand the challenges faced by the NHS.

Mr Hardy, chief executive of University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust, said he was ‘greatly honoured’ to be the HFMA’s 64th president. He continued: ‘You may well ask why a chief executive is president of the HFMA. The HFMA has been a big part of my professional life from when I started as a trainee accountant in 1991. Though I am a chief executive I see myself as an NHS finance professional.’

He paid tribute to the dedication of 2013 president Tony Whitfield and particularly to his theme, Knowing the business. ‘Knowing the business doesn't end here. We will continue to weave the desire to understand how the front line works into the work of the association,’ he said.

The current environment meant the NHS needed the leadership that finance professionals were ideally placed to provide and his presidential theme, Leading by numbers, would support this.

Financial language can confuse non-finance colleagues, he said. ‘We talk all the time about the size of the efficiency agenda but our colleagues put their hands in the air and say they can’t do it. We have to help them make sense of the environment we are in.

‘As finance professionals sometimes we are reactive and we are known as a profession that sorts out NHS problems. But it is time to think about taking action, rather than reacting. Let’s not talk about the £20bn savings target, but about the £100b plus we have got to get more effective services for patients.’

Mr Hardy announced that the association would be launching a number of initiatives over the coming year, including a chief executive finance forum; a healthcare costing institute; and an accredited HFMA coaching service. He also highlighted the importance of the HFMA Commissioning Faculty.