Our Patient Finance and Cashiers Team have a hugely important but varied role that sees them look after hundreds of millions of pounds with an eye for detail that means it always balances to the penny. They look after all income for Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust (CNTW), as well as the CNTW charitable funds, alongside patient finances.

The team was visited by our Board Chair, Malcolm Aiston, who heard about the work they do and what it takes to keep track of that amount of money. Transactions are now almost exclusively electronic but a keen focus on detail is still needed. The team told Malcolm how they are asked why you can’t just ‘put a penny in’ if the balance is out. Firstly, you can’t just add an electronic penny anyway, but more importantly, they said that its shows there is a mistake somewhere and everything needs to be double and triple checked. All their work is tightly controlled by laws and regulations and that is especially true of the charitable funds, including the SHINE fund, as it is covered by charity law as well.

Malcolm heard the most satisfying part of the role is the patient interaction which can be hugely rewarding. Inpatients rely on the service and while they choose what they want the team are responsible for ordering it. With some patients being inpatients for a significant amount of time it can make a huge difference to them to have items to make their stay more homely. Crucially, it also saves clinical staff time who would otherwise be ordering items and chasing up receipts.

The team are also central to key moments in a patient’s life and the Christmas rush is particularly challenging with up to 70 transactions in one day recorded at Northgate alone. Other times of year can be busy too with patients ordering flowers for Mothers’ Day as an example. There are patient finance desks on all main inpatient sites and a visit to see the team can be a part of the patients’ care and recovery as they get off the ward and interact with different people as they place their orders and chat about what they are buying.

The wide variety of the role never leaves a minute to be bored and the role is hugely fulfilling as they know they have contributed to supporting better care for CNTW’s patients.