Are you a wanderer or a searcher? About the new Health Foundation website

It’s rare that we jump into a website from its homepage – we’ve usually got to a specific page from a Google search, or a link from Twitter or a web page. But how do we find out more when we do get there? I’ve come to the conclusion that  you are either a ‘wanderer’ or a ‘searcher’.

When it comes to websites – I’m a wanderer. I like to find my way through the menus and links to find what I am looking for. I’m a nosey browser. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes I find things I didn’t even know I wanted to know.

Now searchers on the other hand – jump straight into the search bar and type in a few key words and voila it’s there (well this depends a lot on the search functionality – so I’m told). Quickly and easily, they’ve found what they needed. I am a bit jealous about their efficiency, but surely they miss out on stumbling on a gem accidently that they wouldn’t have found if they didn’t even know they were looking for it?

Over the last year, we have had both groups in mind, and we hope our new and more user-friendly website will be a pleasure to explore whether you are a ‘wanderer’ or a ‘searcher’ (or somewhere in between).

A more streamlined, intuitive search

We have a lot of content on the site – everything from our publications, blogs, charts and infographics to funding and partnership opportunities to details of the projects we’ve funded. To make it easier for you to find the content you want, we’ve rebuilt the site’s search functionality from scratch. 

We’ve modelled the search results page on what you’d see on shopping websites. So, do check out the grey filters panel on the left of the search results page: you can filter by content type or topic.

Find out what we do – and what interests you – more easily

We want you to be able to find easily the latest about our areas of work that are of interest to you. So, we have a new ‘What we do’ section, which has the latest details of the Health Foundation’s four main areas of focus:

• Promoting healthy lives for all
• Understanding the quality of health and care
• Supporting health care improvement
• Making health and care services more sustainable.

You can also read more about our aims in our strategic plan 2019-2021.

Our reworked ‘Funding and partnerships’ section also provides information on improvement and research project funding opportunities, fellowship programmes, and our major initiatives, such as THIS Institute and the Q Community, where we’re working in partnership with others.

Be sure to sign up for our newsletter for the latest updates on our work and opportunities we offer.

Alumni section

For Alumni of the Health Foundation, we have refreshed the alumni only section of our website. This includes our member directory, news, upcoming events and opportunities, and a range of resources to support continued professional development. User login details remain the same, so please log in here or contact alumni@health.org.uk for help. 

New look and feel

We have developed a clean and fresh design for the website. 

And we would like to say thanks to the staff and patients at Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust and to the participants in our healthy lives photography commission (with the RSPH) who feature in lots of the new photography you will see dotted around the site. 

Things we can improve

We’re really keen to get your views on the new site – both good and bad. If you notice anything that isn’t working, or you think could be improved, then please do let us know. You can either:

• Fill in our feedback form
• Email the Health Foundation Digital team