Financial leadership is important for the NHS for two main reasons. First, of course, there are the core statutory matters – compliance, making sure everything is reported correctly, and the annual accounts.

Just as important, though, particularly from a public perspective, is demonstrating value for money. The latest health and social care draft budget [for Scotland] is £22.5bn, and it’s up to financial leadership to make sure we’ve got the evidence that we’re spending that money in the best way possible.

There are 22 NHS boards in Scotland, each with their own governance. My job is to oversee the whole system and make sure each board is doing its best when it comes to financial stewardship.

We wanted to take our engagement with NHS boards to the next level. So, in September 2023, we set up the finance delivery unit. Before, we were slightly more transactional in our dealings with the boards. They’d send in a spreadsheet with their numbers, we’d add them all up and report, but we probably didn’t understand the drivers of their numbers or what was beneath the spreadsheet as much as we could have. We were often focused on the reporting rather than the improvement side of things.

We got agreement to establish the group, and now we have a team focused on the data and driving improvement and value for money. We have a really good relationship with all the boards.

We’re much more likely to solve challenges working together, rather than trying to do it 22 different ways. So each month, all 22 directors of the DoFG, which I chair, meet up to talk about hot topics, challenges, things we can work on together. We’re all tackling the same type of issues, whether it’s a small board with a small budget, or a big city board with a large budget, say Glasgow, which has £4bn. Everyone is trying to deliver healthcare for their local population, so there’s still a lot that boards can learn from each other.

At school, I leaned towards subjects that were more numerical than language based. Maybe I get it from my mum, who was a business studies teacher at my high school, but I like the analytical and logical approach, where there’s a right answer or a decision that you can drive out of the data. I find language harder to get my head round, as there’s not always a right answer.

I studied psychology at Glasgow Caledonian University. You can take a logical, analytical approach to psychology. There’s quite a bit of data analysis involved, and I thought it was something that would open up a range of career options.

“If you just present the numbers, it won’t give you the outcome you’re looking for. You also have to explain, interpret, influence people, have an impact to get people onboard”

My psychology background is as important as my accountancy experience for my current leadership role. Getting the numbers right is vital – you need to do that to be credible. But if you just present the numbers, it won’t give you the outcome you’re looking for. You also have to explain the numbers, interpret them, influence people, have an impact to get people onboard. This is about negotiation as much as making sure your numbers are right, so using psychology helps.

Working in the public sector helped me develop my leadership skills. You get thrown in at the deep end, into a faster-paced, profit-driven environment. It was challenging but it taught me discipline, I had to present at board meetings very quickly. But I didn’t sink; it allowed me to swim, from which I developed a lot of confidence.