Finance directors ‘incensed’ at comments by safety watchdog
The Health Services Safety Investigation Branch has been accused of taking “divisive potshots” at NHS finance directors.
Speaking at an event to mark the watchdog becoming an independent body, HSSIB chief investigator Rosie Benneyworth said: “We need a position where finance directors in every organisation are as responsible for safety as the person leading the safety agenda and vice versa… Often you see the finance director and safety lead don’t work effectively together and we need to change that.”
Dr Benneyworth said progress on safety would not be made unless it was tackled “in the same breath” as operational and financial matters.
In response, the Healthcare Financial Management Association said Ms Bennyworth’s views had “incensed” its members.
Commenting below the story, HFMA chief executive Mark Knight said: “I have been contacted by a number of finance directors who are incensed by the comments in this article. To gain a fuller picture of the views of the newly created HSSIB we will be asking for a meeting with Dr Benneyworth and [HSSIB chair Ted] Baker. The HFMA would like to understand the evidence on which the assertions in the article are based, which are completely at odds with how I know the vast majority of finance directors and their teams behave.”
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Source: HSJ, 23 October 2023