About us

What we do

The Health Foundation is an independent charity working to continuously improve the quality of healthcare in the UK.

• Watch a short animation that describes what we do
• Use our interactive map to explore our current work

We want the UK to have a healthcare system of the highest possible quality – safe, effective, person-centred, timely, efficient and equitable. We believe that in order to achieve this, health services need to continually improve the way they work.

Working at every level of the healthcare system, we aim to develop the technical skills, leadership, capacity, knowledge, and the will for change, that are essential for real and lasting improvement.

How we do it

• We commission research (view current research projects and download published reports).
• We review and share new ideas.
• Working with people in the health service, we run improvement programmes to test our own ideas and learning.
• We influence policy makers and the practice of those working in healthcare.
• We collaborate with and support leaders and networks of individuals, teams and organisations.

Our approach

There are four ‘pillars’ to our approach, describing the four key aspects of what we do:

• We identify to prove that change is necessary.
• We innovate to test new ideas in practice.
• We demonstrate to turn what works into accepted practice.
• We encourage to inspire and create advocates at all levels.

Our priorities

There are currently six priorities which lead our work:

• inspiring improvement through changing relationships between people and health services
• inspiring improvement through health professionals
• inspiring improvement in patient safety
• inspiring improvement by organising for quality
• inspiring improvement in the use of knowledge
• inspiring improvement in value for money.

Our values

The Health Foundation seeks to be:

• Independent: We seek what is best for improving the quality of healthcare without regard for the agendas of any interest group. We take the best of all without being tied to anyone.
• A catalyst: We are a catalyst for improving the quality of healthcare. We encourage, facilitate, fund and support participants in healthcare to improve quality.
• Grounded in evidence: We identify and use the best available evidence to guide our work in promoting the need to improve the quality of healthcare.
• Positive: We aim to inspire, motivate and support people in healthcare to achieve the highest possible quality of care.