The ethos of the Finance Academy is that every member of staff working in the NHS Wales Finance is a “member” of the Academy and plays a vital contribution to improvement of both themselves and the finance function. We have a range of activities to support improved leadership, personal development and financial practice across the spectrum of the finance community, including:

• Mentoring platform for finance staff across NHS Wales to volunteer to mentor each other on areas of expertise
• National compendium of staff generated contributions of great practice and the opportunity to showcase them to peers
• Space to try out financial techniques in collaboration, to learn from each other in its application.
• Talent Pipeline to actively support financial leadership across the breadth of a career in NHS Finance – from finance trainee to Director of Finance
• Suite of training and development activities ranging from specialist subject masterclasses, accredited training programmes to personal impact support
• Proactive encouragement and support for experiential development placements and roles
• Strategic partnerships with Universities to deliver educational aspects of our programmes
• Focussed approach to improving financial governance across all organisations in Wales resulting in standardised best practice
• Collaboration with Workforce and Procurement teams across Wales to develop a “once for Wales” approach to core systems deployment
• Collaboration with other public sector organisations in Wales to offer cross public sector development opportunities for finance students
• Accredited joint clinical & financial development programmes which bring together clinical and financial leadership from across Wales with the objective of driving value based healthcare - improving both patient outcomes and cost

Inclusion

Promoting equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI), and actively implementing policies and practices that support EDI, are essential elements for creating a happy and healthy workplace and workforce. EDI is about creating working environments and cultures where everyone, irrespective of background or identity, can feel safe and valued and supported to achieve their full potential.

What do we mean by Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI)?

• Equality is about treating people fairly, with dignity, and respect. It is about providing everyone with opportunities to fulfil their potential, whatever their background, culture, or identity.
• Diversity is about respecting, celebrating, and embracing the rich mix of perspectives, ideas, and values that people bring but also recognising the diverse intersectionality of identities, that includes disability, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religion, socio economic status, race, age, and marital status.
• Inclusion is about accommodating, respecting, and welcoming the needs and perspectives of people from different backgrounds, languages, and culture. It is where everyone feels they belong.

EDI in NHS Wales Finance

In NHS Wales Finance, we focus on embracing an inclusive culture that considers everyone’s experiences and values what this can bring to the workplace. Finance Teams across Wales have undertaken significant engagement activities with colleagues to promote positive working cultures, all in the spirit of making NHS Wales Finance the best place to work. Organisations each have their own strategic equality objectives and the Finance Academy support these through the Finance teams across NHS Wales.  You can find further information on each organisation here:

Why is NHS Wales Finance a great place to work?

The NHS Wales Finance Academy supports and helps colleagues grow and develop across NHS Wales Finance. Whilst all NHS Wales organisations are Disability Confident employers, here are some of the other initiatives NHS Wales Finance have available:

Groups

• Each NHS Wales organisation has Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Groups which focus on providing opportunities and developing strategies to improve experiences of underrepresented communities.  In addition, NHS Wales Finance have an Inclusion Leads Group, where colleagues share best practice and ideas and create resources for colleagues to use.
• Every NHS Wales finance team is represented at our Learning and Development Leads meetings, supporting the delivery of the NHS Wales Finance Academy strategic plans.
• For those studying and newly qualified (SNQ+), colleagues have access to SNQ+ teams' channels and the All Wales Finance Study Principles.
• With 44% of our Finance workforce either learning Welsh, speaking basic Welsh or are fluent in Welsh, every colleague can join our ‘Grŵp Cyllid Cymraeg’.

Development Opportunities 

• As a finance colleague you will have access to our Learning and Development Platform which has a range of learning resources including mentoring opportunities, webinars, case studies, e-learning and best practice guides.
• We are committed to developing our Finance Staff and regular Personal Appraisal Development Review (PADR) will help identify development opportunities for you.
• Best Practice Guides are also available on the Learning and Development Platform. Examples of best practice guides include: PADR, Mentoring and other technical guides.
• Inclusion resource hub on the Learning and Development platform. Read about inclusive recruitment, find resources on the nine protected characteristics or watch webinars from NHS Wales Equality Week.

Development Events

• To help you grow within a role in NHS Wales Finance, we hold events designed to develop your skills and enhance your learning including our Annual Finance Academy Conference, Workshop Day and Lunch and Learns.
• Our lunch and learns focus on a wide range of topics. Recently we have had NHS speakers on the topic of inclusion including a session on Sexual Safety in the Workplace, Windrush and the NHS - An Entwined History plus Career Journeys from senior colleagues.

Welcome Message from Inclusion Leads Chair – Sartha Rajoo

Helo a croeso. Hello and welcome.   

Our Inclusion Leads work together with the Finance Academy, we aim to consistently learn and grow. Organisations which are cognitively diverse produce better solutions.

Here are our recent achievements from our Inclusion Leads Group:

• We have a representative from every NHS Wales organisation.
• We contribute to Inclusion topics in the NHS Wales Finance Academy Newsletter.
• We invite speakers to facilitate virtual Learn and lunches to spread awareness on a variety of topics.  
• We are always looking to improve, develop and share resources. Recent work includes the creation of an Inclusive Terms Glossary, and we are currently developing an Inclusive Recruitment Guideline for NHS Wales Finance, incorporating guidance from advertising through to the onboarding.

I believe that attracting and retaining existing talent is key to our workforce strategy. NHS Wales Finance is led by a strong leadership team, and we are proud of what we have achieved across the organisations.