Help us to Shape the Future of NHS Finance

Blog written by Suzanne Robinson, Executive Director of Finance & IM&T, Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust and Value Maker SRO.

I’ve spoken to lots of staff over the past few weeks about how important it is to contribute to the online conversation to help shape the future of our NHS Finance. I get it, people are busier than ever before, they aren’t sure if their ideas or thoughts are what others want to hear, and some aren’t convinced that we’ll listen.

I spoke with two members of staff last week – The first had worked in NHS Finance for 34 years! I told her about the “big conversation” we were holding and encouraged her to get involved. She explained that she wasn’t interested in studying, she was too old for all that and just wanted to come to work, do a good job and go home; in her view One NHS Finance was for the “young ens” those who wanted to progress or innovate – she told me how much things had changed since she joined the health service and it felt much more stressful than ever before, for the newer staff as well as a seasoned pro like herself. I shared with her some of wellbeing resources we have and she promised me she’d take a look at the ‘How to Destress’ workshop we ran in July. In our initial conversation, you said ‘developing a supportive culture in organisations was essential to staff wellbeing and resilience’ – the wellbeing programme is a wonderful example of these great resources that are there for everyone, in every role and provide help to navigate busy days at home or in the office.

The second person I spoke with was new to the NHS, he’d only joined 4 months ago and was looking to build his understanding of the service and how it all worked. I don’t miss an opportunity to promote the Value Makers network, but I also don’t pressure people to join, I want people to see the benefits for themselves and l’ll just encourage them to discover that. When we talked about the survey, he said “what could I suggest, I know nothing…” I think a few people think like this – what’s great about the platform is there are lots of ideas already there shared by others – if they resonate with you, you can ‘like’ them so there is no pressure to generate the ideas yourself, but it may spark your imagination in what you’d like to see over the next couple of years.

I’ve worked on lots of different programmes in my time in the NHS but none more powerful than this. We have a special network in NHS Finance, it’s the envy of many of our colleagues in other professional groups. In 2021, over 3,200 people shared their views generating over 30,000 ideas – we took these and created the Programmes you see today – Innovation, supporting our staff, Diversity & Inclusion, NHS Careers – making NHS Finance the Greatest Place to Work!

For me, the Value Makers have been instrumental in all of this work. We have almost 4,000 registered up and down the country. Value Makers are ambassadors for all of this work with a mission to make sure that each and every person is aware, has access to and is supported to take part in One NHS Finance.

So, in answer to those initial questions, it’s a resounding yes – we do want to hear, and we will listen, and this programme is evidence of that – and if you want to make it better, tell us how or even better get involved with the Value Makers and help us even more.

How to contribute to the #ShapetheFuture of NHS Finance conversation:

💻 Register for your free account with IdeaScale Shaping the future – by IdeaScale (ideascaleapp.eu) with your NHS email and verify your account (don’t forget to check your junk) this takes 3 minutes of your time!

💡 Browse submitted ideas, like/dislike and leave comments.

📢 Submit as many ideas as you like.

🤫 Every idea, vote or comment will be automatically anonymous.