Background

One NHS Finance began as a nationwide conversation that gave everyone working in the finance community the opportunity to share current challenges and input into how the future of the function is shaped. The conversation was commissioned by the NHS Finance Leadership Council (FLC), who sought to create an ambitious development strategy  for the finance community to make NHS finance an outstanding environment to work in. In total 3,200 people joined the discussion sharing almost 30,000 contributions to the online platform. All the feedback, comments, and opinions of the NHS finance community were analysed and developed into a 5-year finance development strategy which is being delivered through three national programmes:

Future-Focused Finance (FFF) is a national programme developing, connecting, and supporting the finance staff across the NHS in England.  The programme facilitates opportunities for finance staff to network, collaborate while sharing learning, good ideas and celebrating the successes of individuals and teams.

A key focus of the FFF programme is to work alongside clinical and other non-finance colleagues to champion clinical engagement by delivering financial training to improve clinical value. The programme also promotes NHS finance careers to attract new and diverse talent into the function as well as providing training and networks to support staff health and wellbeing.  We want to ensure NHS Finance is a great place to work.

The National Finance Academy was set up to ensure there is an inclusive, comprehensive, and structured training and development offer for all staff across England. We work with partner organisations and regional academies to act as a ‘one stop shop’ for finance staff to access opportunities. We support talent management and succession planning through our development programmes, with something for everyone at all stages of their careers aligned to our National Finance training Curriculum.

The Academy drives the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion agenda, through our national Action Plan, positive action programmes and networks, while ensuring that this is embedded across everything that we do in One NHS Finance.

The Finance Innovation Forum has been established to discover existing ideas, problems and innovations in NHS finance. Through the Forum’s briefings, networks and events, we share peer reviewed innovations developed by the finance community to help other NHS organisations overcome similar challenges they may be facing. We also establish research and development groups to provide solutions to common problems facing the function.  Alongside this, we have a network of technical experts and online forums to support you use existing technologies more effectively within your organisation.

Through the national programmes we develop a wide range of initiatives, training and networking opportunities including events, forums, publications, development programmes and toolkits. Through all of our initiatives we aim to ensure that everyone working in NHS Finance has equitable access to all of the skills and knowledge to support them through their careers and opportunities to influence and enhance patient services.

Leadership and Governance

The national programmes are overseen by the NHS Finance Leadership Council who act as the main decision-making forum for the NHS Finance Development Strategy. The Council sets the strategic direction of the NHS Finance Function and be accountable for achieving its vision.

Finance Leadership Groups oversee each of the programmes to provide visible strategic leadership of the NHS Finance Function, the finance community and finance issues facing the NHS. The groups will be responsible for identifying and developing projects and activities that are of value to the NHS finance community, to ensure the delivery of the NHS Finance Development Strategy.

National Delivery Team

A dedicated national delivery team supports the development and implementation of the strategy through the programmes under One NHS Finance. The team works across all three of the programmes to ensure there is cohesion across all the projects within the programme, reporting progress through the Finance Leadership Groups to the Finance Leadership Council on a regular basis.

Delivery Partnerships

Much of our work will be delivered through partnership with others, both enhancing and developing our existing collaborations and forging new ones to expand our skills, capacity and capabilities. The national delivery team will strengthen links with partners across the Skills Development Networks, NHS Leadership Academy and the Healthcare Financial Management Association to ensure there is no duplication of work or confusion over who is doing what. By clearly setting out our achievements and ambitions we can identify those areas where it makes sense to join up and better leverage each other’s expertise, knowledge, and resources.

We continuously refresh the programmes and initiatives throughout the One NHS Finance programmes so that they remain contemporary and relevant.