Value Maker Award Winners 2020

The Value Maker Annual Conference 2020 included the presentation of our Value Maker Awards! The awards were based on our four strengths framework and were presented by SRO for Value Makers, Suzanne Robinson, Executive Director of Finance & IM&T at Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS FT.

Finance Expert: Gavin Rush, Countess of Chester NHS FT  Gavin is a very active member of the Value Maker network and often presents and shares his technical expertise at events and conferences. He is also the first point of call within the finance team at his trust when colleagues need technical help. Gavin’s colleagues say that he is constantly working to improve finance processes and has implemented new and efficient ways of working at the trust that have reduced duplication, ensured information is robust, and have freed-up capacity – resulting in reducing month-end close down for income reporting from 5 days to 3

Make Change Happen: Number 1 Place to Work Team at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital NHS FT The No 1 Place to Work project team was set up to evaluate areas of improvement within the finance department, and to implement new initiatives that supported staff satisfaction and wellbeing. The team is made up of a small, diverse group of Value Makers from all areas within the Finance department and their innovative events and projects have empowered individuals to collaboratively improve the working environment for all across the department, especially this year during the pandemic.

Drive Value for Tax Payers: Mojgan Sani, North Tees NHS FT Mojgan led and delivered on a clear vision and strategy for the Medicines Optimisation department in getting the best value from medicines, whilst ensuring high quality care and experience for patients. Working with the finance department, they were set a savings target of £1 million for the year and delivered an outstanding £2.4 million savings! This was a significant contribution towards the total Trust target of £9 million.

Team Player: Amy Denning, Airedale NHS FT Amy has been recognised by several colleagues at her organisation for going above and beyond in her role to support the team and to lead on FFF within the department. Despite starting her role at the trust just as the pandemic hit, Amy’s colleagues say she has done an amazing job in bringing the team together digitally, and in leading on the trust’s Level 1 submission for Accreditation. Her team say she has made outstanding efforts to ensure the wellbeing of staff are supported and has implemented several social and fun initiatives to keep morale high and the team connected.

Finance and Clinical Educator of the Year: Gareth Jones, Manchester University NHS FT Gareth is a Value Maker who actively engages with and teaches clinicians about finance and coding at his organisation. He has been a huge supporter of FFF’s Finance 4 Clinicians and Managers events and has travelled the length and breadth of the country to deliver workshops that consistently receive outstanding feedback. Gareth has produced fantastic content for our FACE teaching resources and has given invaluable support to ensure the network delivers relevant and up to date information.

Regional Engagement Award: The East of England – with a special mention and thanks to Tiffany Leefe and Daryl Cockman for their hard work in engaging finance staff across the region This new annual award recognises the region with the greatest progress in terms of engagement with Future-Focused Finance and staff development. The East of England started their engagement journey with just 23 Value Makers in September 2019, and now have over 600, giving them more Value Makers than any other region in the country! They were the first region to have every Finance Director sign the FD Declaration – showing their outstanding commitment to staff development.

A big well done to all of our award winners and everyone who was shortlisted!