Comment / Here comes the summer

The early summer has already been a busy period. In June, the NHS Future Forum published its conclusions from the listening exercise and the government response was hot on its heels. There is still a lot of detail missing, but it is no surprise to find finance people in the thick of trying to make sense of it all on the ground.

The pace of change is enormous and the HFMA is gearing up to respond to these challenges. We continue to invest in our human resources to provide comment and fresh thinking about financial issues. We are also again working with our colleagues in Financial Skills Development to conduct a census of the finance function.

This will be our first opportunity to track changes in numbers and skill mix by Agenda for Change bandings since our 2009 work. The reforms are likely to have a big impact on the finance function as we move to commissioning groups, potentially more heavily reliant on shared support services. Providers also face changes. Our census will help us look at the baseline position and at changes in finance departments as the new structures emerge.

Understandably many members face uncertainties over their careers as a result of the reforms and our ‘Take control’ programme has proved both timely and well received assistance for finance staff around the country.

While we are constantly looking for new ways to support our core membership – for example, through our increasingly popular webinars – we continue to run important conferences and briefing events. Our recent FT conference provided a great platform for debate on how the planned reforms will affect the provider economy and how FTs can stay focused on the overriding challenge of improving both quality and productivity.

A new costing event to be held in the autumn – which we hope will become an annual opportunity to share best practice in costing  – has been finalised. The HFMA firmly believes robust cost information will be vital as the NHS looks to drive quality and value and the new event is in part an attempt to raise the profile of costing and the costing accountant. We hope you will support it.

Beyond that, our attention turns to our 61st annual conference  (30 November - 2 December).  In response to feedback from last year’s event, we are looking to increase the number of small group workshops. Our new Learning Lab will take centre stage on the Wednesday, with a choice of 14 seminars, with further workshops on the Friday morning. There will also be our AGM and personal development sessions on this day, this year featuring athletes Steve Backley and Roger Black.

We hope finance managers will agree it is once again an unmissable event. Our annual HFMA Awards ceremony, also held during the conference, is now an established programme and former winners talk highly of the benefits of taking part and gaining the acclaim of their profession. With eight awards – from Governance to Clinician of the Year – there is something for everyone. We encourage all finance directors and finance teams to study the entry criteria and share their successes.