The Finance Team at the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital has achieved level 1 accreditation in the Future Focused Finance framework.

The Future focused finance accreditation system is designed to give recognition to NHS organisations that have the very best finance skills development culture and practices in place.

There are 3 levels within the process that reflect the continuous development of the organisation’s finance function.

Level 1 requires 6 areas of accreditation to be completed and evidenced covering infrastructure, personal development, professional development, finance workforce and career planning, corporate financial competence and business controls and policy. For each area, a series of set criteria must be met to meet the award.

Steve Washbourne, is Chief Financial Officer at the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital. He said: “Whilst this is obviously wonderful news, it is so much more. It is recognition of the commitment of the finance team to make our finances sustainable and resilient, with a focus on continuous improvement.

“This badge of recognition shows the steps we have made to date, and sets us in good stead to reach further accreditations while we provide the best support to the Trust.”

The Future Focused Finance framework encourages continuous development of the organisation’s financial competence through increasingly higher standards of skills development within the finance function. It celebrates the success of organisations who take skills development seriously and are able to identify continuous improvement of the capability and financial competence of both the finance function and the organisation as a whole.

​​​​​​The finance team at the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital are currently working towards achieving Level 2 accreditation, which requires additional criteria to be met to show a ‘High Level of Performance’ as organisations must demonstrate an overall culture that is innovative and consistently supportive of the development of the finance capability throughout the organisation.