News / HFMA Awards to recognise diversity

There is strong evidence that diversity leads to better decision-making. And where an NHS workforce is representative of the community it serves, patient care improves and the overall patient experience is more personalised.

This diversity needs to exist at every level of the health service and in all areas – including patient-facing roles and support functions such as finance.

However, there are clear inequalities in the NHS finance function in terms of representation, especially at the most senior levels, where the stereotype of a white, male director continues to dominate.

Work is already under way to improve diversity within NHS finance. However, NHS England and NHS Improvement chief financial officer Julian Kelly has called on the function to do more. ‘We have got to challenge ourselves to see how we can do better,’ he told last year’s HFMA annual conference.

‘Frankly, the answer is that we need to pull through our talent from women and BAME groups, as well as other groups with protected characteristics.’

The new award will be open to individuals, teams or organisations who have made a difference to diversity and inclusion. It will join the eight regular awards, which are now open for entry and will be presented during the HFMA annual conference in December. The full list of awards includes:

• Costing

• Deputy Finance Director of the Year

• Delivering Value with Digital

• Diversity and Inclusion

• Finance Director of the Year

• Finance Team of the Year

• Governance

• Havelock Training

• Working with Finance – Clinician of the Year.

The awards highlight good practice in NHS finance and governance.