Feature / Going for gold

The HFMA Awards provide a showcase for the best in healthcare finance. Seamus Ward gets this year’s competition under way.

Winning the HFMA Accounts Team of the Year Award has raised the Mersey Care NHS Trust finance department’s profile both locally and nationally, according to executive director of finance and performance Neil Smith.

Mersey Care, which provides specialist mental health and disability services, picked up the award at the HFMA’s annual gala dinner last December. Mr Smith says that not only did it provide an immediate boost in morale, but it also raised awareness among colleagues in other parts of the trust, and other trusts,  of the high-quality service the team offered.

‘We are keen to share our knowledge and a number of organisations contacted us to seek our advice. They asked in particular about how we had reduced our creditor/debtor balances, the steps we had taken to improve the speed we pay people and how we set up our working papers,’ he says.

Mr Smith, speaking as the 2010 Awards were launched, says he would have no hesitation in entering again.

This year, a new award gives NHS deputy finance directors a chance to be acknowledged by their peers. Deputy Finance Director of the Year has been created to recognise the support given by deputies to finance directors, as well as their contribution to the financial health of their organisation and the improvement in healthcare locally or nationally.

In recognition of the fact that some organisations do not use the deputy director of finance title, the award applies to all second in command finance managers who report directly to or deputise for the finance director.

Judges will assess nominees against a number of criteria, including evidence of a substantial contribution to an achievement made by their organisation (financial or service-related), enterprise and innovation and contribution to the finance function.

The deputy director prize is one of seven individual, organisation and team awards to be handed out at the gala dinner in December, attended by more than 700 of their peers.

Sixth year

The association’s awards programme is now in its sixth year and continues to showcase the best in healthcare finance. Each winner will receive a specially commissioned glass trophy.

This year’s event will name the HFMA’s fourth Finance Director of the Year. The award, scooped last year by NHS Blackburn with Darwen deputy chief executive and director of finance and information Paul Hinnigan, marks professional excellence in financial management and leadership. Judges will look for nominees’ contribution to their board, a significant achievement of their organisation, evidence of innovation and their professional leadership of the finance team.

The HFMA Clinician of the Year Award, which made its debut last year, highlights the importance of clinical engagement with financial management. With this award, the HFMA is especially keen to recognise a clinician who has taken financial responsibility for their service, led an efficiency or improvement initiative or showed fellow clinicians the value of engaging with the finance agenda. Nominations should be made by directors of finance and judges will look for clinicians who, for example, led the redesign of patient pathways to improve quality and efficiency of services, or those who worked with finance colleagues to refine costing and coding data.

Given the financial climate, there will be great interest in the HFMA Efficiency Award, which focuses on the role of finance in delivering efficiency improvements. Other awards include recognition of the most innovative and efficient accounts team and the HFMA Governance Award, which will honour an individual, team or organisation that has improved assurance and risk management arrangements.

The Havelock Training Award, now in its 11th year  and named after Jon Havelock – who before his death in 1998 was deputy director of finance at the Department of Health – will celebrate a significant contribution to finance skills development.

Click here for details of the awards, nomination process and judges.  The deadline for entries is 1 October.

HFMA awards 2010

• Accounts Team of the Year Award
• Working with Finance/HFMA Clinician of  the Year Award
• Finance Director of the Year
• Deputy Finance Director of the Year
• Efficiency Award
• Governance Award
• Havelock Training Award

Key dates

• Friday 1 October 2010: deadline for entries
• End of October 2010: shortlisted organisations announced and invited to present their application
• Thursday 9 December 2010: winners announced at HFMA’s annual conference gala dinner