Technical / Technical review September 2017

The Department of Health has issued guidance on re-employing staff who have retired and taken their NHS pension benefits. The guidance – aimed at employers and staff – says ‘retire and return’ schemes can benefit both parties by helping the NHS retain skills while facilitating a better work/life balance for the employee. But it notes the scheme has attracted negative media coverage, insisting applications should not be approved automatically.

Cash donations made to frontline staff need to be managed carefully and it is important that controls are in place to receipt, bank and account for them. These charity donations can result in large numbers of separate funds on different wards/clinics that are unwieldy and inefficient to manage. A new briefing from the HFMA – NHS charities (England and Wales) – good practice in handling cash donations – examines how such donations should be managed, informed by work done by members of the HFMA Charitable Funds Special Interest Group.

An HFMA briefing paints a largely positive picture of the 2016/17 year-end accounts process, though several small issues have been highlighted. Finance managers described it as a ‘business as usual’ year in terms of the accounting process, with key areas of difficulty anticipated ahead of the year-end. These issues included co-commissioning for clinical commissioning groups; accounting for the sustainability and transformation fund for providers; and non-current asset valuations and the impact of the financial position on the NHS.

The Department has published the healthcare education and training tariff for 2017/18. As well as the national tariffs for education and training placements, this sets out implemention and circumstances in which they can be varied. The tariffs cover non-medical and medical undergraduate placements, as well as postgraduate medical placements, in secondary care.