News / HFMA 2011: Finance needs to be fit for future

NHS finance staff need to be ‘match fit’ to meet the quality and efficiency challenge as the NHS looks to deliver £20bn of savings by 2014/15, HFMA president Suzanne Tracey told the HFMA annual conference in London.

Opening the annual gathering of NHS finance directors and finance managers, Ms Tracey acknowledged the current agenda was challenging and was likely to get harder as organisations moved beyond the quick wins in the early stages of their improvement plans.

‘That is why we need to ensure we are match fit and appropriately skilled to take on the challenge,’ she said.

She highlighted the success of this year’s HFMA’s ‘Take control’ programme, which was supported by the Department of Health, to help finance staff prepare for the challenges ahead. ‘I hope the theme will continue long past this year,’ she said.  ‘There is still much to do and a huge challenge ahead of us.  We each have important roles to play as leaders of our own teams, and within our organisations.  Finance staff have already proved they play a very important part as enablers in transformational change.  We need to continue in this vein with enthusiasm and determination.’

She added: ‘Most importantly, we need to continue to work alongside our clinical colleagues to ensure the NHS navigates the challenges successfully and delivers the most important outcome of safe, sustainable services for our patients.’