HFMA 2021: association celebrates qualification success

More than 50 students have graduated from the HFMA diploma programmes in the latest wave of the qualifications programme. Sixteen of the graduates were in London to receive their graduation certificates at a ceremony held during the HFMA annual conference, hosted by HFMA chief executive Mark Knight. Nearly 300 people have now completed diplomas across the association’s healthcare business and finance and primary care management schemes, with a further 160 currently enrolled.

The Student of the Year Award was named after former HFMA president Tony Whitfield, who was a major contributor to the development of the association’s education programmes, which offer a route to gaining an MBA. Mr Whitfield was an enthusiastic supporter of finance staff ‘knowing the business’ – constantly looking to enhance their grasp of both finance and clinical practice in the NHS. The award is given to a student who has excelled during their studies.

Mr Gould (pictured) completed the Advanced higher diploma in healthcare business and finance, achieving a distinction in the Supporting quality care with patient-level costing module, one of three modules selected to make up the diploma.

Mr Gould is head of finance at Shropshire Community Health NHS Trust. Having completed a degree in European finance and accounting with German, he worked in industry before spending eight years with consultancy PWC, focusing on the banking and financial services, clinical research and retail sectors. He joined the NHS in 2006 as deputy director of finance at Heartlands Hospital. Having just gained foundation trust status, he saw an organisation that was ambitious and progressive.

He stayed with the trust until it merged with University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust when he moved to the Shropshire role.

Mr Gould said the diploma was a way of ‘bringing something different’ to his role, finding a different way of thinking about the challenges facing the NHS and the need to move more services into a community setting. He said the diploma had been a good way of learning about other organisations and seeing things from their perspective. He added that he was already applying lessons from the course in his day-to-day work.

He was put forward for the award by tutors who described him as a ‘hard worker, high performer and active contributor to the Academy live sessions’.

The HFMA diplomas have offered a route to an MBA since 2019, However from January, graduates of the advanced higher diploma will be able to sign up to an executive MBA top-up programme at the University of Northampton. The distance learning programme has elements designed specifically for HFMA entrants, with a module exploring critical issues in healthcare finance. For a second larger module, HFMA diploma graduates will join a wider cohort of MBA students to undertake individual business research projects.

Mr Gould hopes to move on to the MBA programme in due course.