Comment / Full steam ahead

We finished 2015 with one of the better annual conferences in recent years, according to feedback, so onto the next one… Places for early booking will be available shortly. We greatly value your support for events like this and I was impressed by the mature debate at the conference as we sought to question speakers.

We also held a commissioning forum and provider event in January, both of which were well attended and received. And our annual chairs’ conference also proved popular.

At branch level, we have three events in January/February, with conferences in South Central, North West and Yorkshire/Humber.

So it’s been a whirlwind start to 2016.

We also have a new president, Shahana Khan who has started off with the usual round of presidential visits and an appearance at the Public Accounts Committee – just to keep her on her toes. This wasn’t a very long session, but she put her points across well and even got a mention in Roy Lilley’s blog – fame indeed.

I’m looking forward to working with Shahana this year. Not only have I known her for a long time, but also because I think her theme of ‘Step up’ is a great encouragement to us all.

We have two major preoccupations this year – a new membership strategy, because we want to ‘step up’ the number of members we have, and launching our qualification.

Our membership strategy is to be discussed at the February board. We’d like to develop membership in a number of different ways. First, we want to make it easier to pay and easier to join. So we will be looking at how payment can be handled monthly and by different methods. And on the joining side, we are looking to develop a champions’ scheme. Pioneered in the Welsh Branch, it’s about getting a focal point in each organisation with someone who can champion our cause. We’ll also be looking to develop materials to support membership.

We are planning to improve member benefits, including a better platform for our webinars. It is important members feel special, so a number of changes will be made to member access. Places at the annual dinner in December will be reserved for members first before others can book, and branch meetings will be exclusively for members (though some will charge for non-member attendance). We are also looking at whether we can offer very junior staff and students an ultra-low rate.

All these initiatives will be the responsibility of a membership manager we will be appointing in the next few weeks.

Our second focus this year is on our suite of qualifications. I can’t tell you much this month, but we will unveil something very special in the near future encompassing certificates, a diploma and an MBA. I’ll explain more in the next issue.

For now, we are working on our bid to Ofqual to be given awarding body status, which will be a big step forward in the long history of the HFMA – and a very tangible response to Shahana’s call to ‘step up’.