Finance has leadership role, Harkin tells US conference

Mr Harkin, deputy chief executive and finance director of Northern Health and Care Trust in Northern Ireland, was speaking to the US HFMA’s annual conference in Denver at the end of June – the main gathering for finance leaders in the 50 states of America.

He said that the pandemic had had a devastating impact on health services across the UK. ‘We now face a combined waiting list of six million of our citizens waiting to see a hospital doctor,’ he said. ‘That’s roughly one in 10 of the population. In Northern Ireland that figure is considerably higher.’

In the UK, years of underinvestment in training, Brexit and the expansion of services had led to record high levels of vacancies across the sector, he said. And staff now had to deal with the backlog, while many were tired or traumatised. In this context, finance professionals were grappling with the same old problems – balancing the books and getting the best value for tax-funded healthcare.

However, highlighting his presidential theme – Reimagining the future ­– Mr Harkin said that Covid-19 had created an opportunity to plan ahead and think about the sorts of health services that would be needed in future. In some areas – such as the use of virtual consultations – it has accelerated changes in practice that were already being planned for.

‘We live in challenging times, there is no doubt about that,’ he said. ‘However, as leaders, let us use these as opportunities to innovate and explore new ways to provide services and improve population health outcomes.’ He added that the HFMA – in the UK and the United States – would continue to be powerful forces for change in their respective health systems.