Comment / Interesting times

It’s been an interesting few weeks for politics with (if the papers are to be believed) the near demise of a premiership. There has been a real sense of history in the making. 

In the end, nothing happened apart from the crushing of a rebellion. Any other outcome would surely have meant an autumn election – so perhaps it was never a realistic option for the Labour party.  Health does see some change, with the appointment of new health secretary Andy Burnham, to whom we send our best wishes. The leadership status quo that has resulted would appear to protect the health service’s window of opportunity to prepare for the challenges ahead. The spending year for 2009/10 remains and by the time of a likely election we will be about a quarter into 2010/11.

From the association’s perspective we recognise that there will be changes from 2011 and we want to ensure we are ready to meet the challenges. I must congratulate the NHS Confederation for its paper Dealing with the downturn, which set out eloquently, and at times starkly, the choices before us. It contributed effectively to a political row over the extent of cuts and an acceptance from both the main political parties that the country is going to have to do something.  The report did appear to extract a confirmation from the politicians that health will enjoy some protection in any funding cuts, at least relative to other spending departments. But a flat cash settlement remains a possibility. And if inflation takes off, we are in for challenges we have never yet seen.

The association wants to prepare our members for the future and as part of that process we are trying to run all our programmes within the context of the possible downturn in the budget, with sessions keeping a firm eye on the economic and political environment. There are several coming up, notably the PCT and FT national conferences in Blackpool in early July.  I am looking forward to the debate ‘Payment by results – alive, dead or wounded by the credit crunch’ at the FT Conference because the tariff must be under the spotlight in the coming months.

HFMA chairman Bill Shields’ theme – building world class finance –  also fits perfectly into this year and our work continues apace to support this theme. Also on the horizon is work to develop a new strategy for the HFMA for 2010-2015. I will be dealing with each individual strand in my columns over the coming months and, as we move forward, we want to hear your views about our future.

On a separate note, you will have seen your subscription reminder drop through the letter box recently. However you decide to pay, whether by direct debit or cheque, I hope you still recognise that your HFMA subscription offers you good value for money and we continue to provide the level of service you expect. 

We want our next strategy, from 2010-15, to move our agenda further forward as we cement our position as the leading organisation for finance in the NHS.  It will be achieved for you and because of you, but only with your support as we look to move forward together.