Member to member / Life begins at the end of your comfort zone

In 2015 Gayle Wells was announced the first winner of the Future-Focused Finance Award, awarded by FFF at the HFMA annual awards ceremony. The judges commented that she embodies the spirit of the programme, showing commitment, innovation and inspirational leadership. Since then she hasn’t stopped building up on the success and empowering others to be the change they want to see in the NHS. As the HFMA Awards are about to open for nominations again, we caught up with her to find out more about her career journey, how the HFMA has supported her and how can NHS finance benefit from the use of social media.

How did you start your NHS finance journey?

When I finished my degree I started to work in a small private sector nursing agency. The agency would arrange private and local authority funded care and assistance for people living in their own homes. As I had a degree, the owner suggested that I work alongside the accountant on the billing side of the business. After a few months I realised that I was capable of doing a lot of this support, and enjoying it, and looked at how I could undertake a formal qualification in accountancy.

As I was working full time, I asked for my employer to release me for one afternoon a week to go to a local college and I started, self funded, to study CIMA. I had no exemptions with having an English degree so I had to complete all the foundation stage. During the first year I was really struggling to understand how this all worked in practice, how debits and credits worked, and what a journal was etc.  I knew that I wanted to work in the public sector and so I started looking for roles in local NHS organisations that might support me to work in NHS finance, and learn at the same time. In 2002 I was successfully appointed as management accountant in Sefton Health Authority.

Why did you get involved with the HFMA? How does the Association support your career development?

I have always been a member of HFMA since being a student. At the beginning, it made sense as it connected me to other students, and as I had no previous experience of the NHS it was a way of learning informally. It’s a really cost effective way to develop those connections, I would urge any finance students to get involved in their local branch.

Since qualifying it has become even more valuable to me. After I left Sefton Health Authority I joined Wigan PCT (now CCG) and I got involved with some of the work streams at HFMA. As assistant director of finance at Wigan Clinical Commissioning Group, I was a regular attender at the Commissioning Finance Faculty which I enjoyed. Having the opportunity to engage with senior members of the NHS commissioning finance community really developed my confidence. Through these connections I was able to talk to members of the commissioning finance community who had previously worked in provider finance about the differences and whether it might be a good career move for me. I applied to Mersey Care Foundation Trust, and was appointed strategic business accountant in March 2016.

How does the HFMA support your work as a value maker?

HFMA has been an integral part of my value maker journey. When I became a value maker in 2015, I was already a regular HFMA at national and regional events. I was able to show the benefits of being involved in Future-Focused Finance to these audiences and increase the reach and develop the brand of the Value maker. The Value maker network is a virtual group of like minded finance professionals, we only really meet up in person a few times a year, so the HFMA events are a really valuable opportunity to re-connect with each other.

You’re also behind the twitter account @wefinance. Can social media make a difference in NHS finance and has it made a difference to you personally?

Yes, I’m one of just a handful of volunteers who run this twitter account. The important part of this for me is that this twitter account is part of a community of accounts all dedicated to bringing NHS professionals together. There are twitter accounts for @wenurses, @wedocs, @weAHPs, @wepharmacists … I could go on but you get the picture! Getting involved in twitter chats on clinical subjects is a great way to learn about things, and we have had clinical staff involved in our finance chats too. They do come up with some great ideas!

I’d never used twitter before I became a value maker, but I made it a goal to start to develop an online presence and try to cross organisational, hierarchical and professional boundaries with the #valuemaker brand. Three years later and I have over 1,000 followers. If you look at the way the social media is used today, in regular lives as part of our day through our smartphones, why wouldn’t NHS finance try to get its messages out in the same way. There’s some really great examples of other value makers doing the same thing – just search #valuemaker, or follow @wefinance_, or @nhsFFF.

What’s the most important HFMA member benefit for you?

HFMA is the only network which brings all NHS finance professionals together regardless of which letters they have after their name! The ability to be able to meet and network with NHS colleagues from across the country, working in provider and commissioner organisations, and at all levels of NHS finance has been really important to me in my career to date and I am sure it will be in the future too.

What piece of advice do you have for anyone starting their NHS finance career now?

When I was interviewed for the HFMA Value maker 2015 award, I said that there was one quote which really summed up my value maker journey.

‘Life begins at the end of your comfort zone, do one thing each day which scares you’

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