Our direction of travel in 2026

‘Keep going Health Foundation!’ is something often said to me when I’m out and about. The examples people share of the worth and impact of some of our work gives me and my colleagues constant cheer. Thank you! (Keep it coming…)

That said, an Achilles heel of foundations is that they can be self-congratulatory: imagining their impact is higher than it truly is; becoming inward looking and less relevant. Given the spur of today’s clear challenges – and tomorrow’s, since foundations are uniquely placed to think for the long term – this is something we must scrupulously avoid.

That’s why we’ve been thinking hard about the next 5 years and what we, at the Foundation, should be doing. There’s so much need out there, and so many agencies and organisations trying to help address it. What can foundations fund that is unique and impactful, rather than duplicating what others do?

We’ll say more in April when we launch our new 5-year strategy. But, for now, a few pointers.

Strategy 2030: an early preview

We’ll continue our twin focus on improving health and inequalities and health and care services. We are known for our analysis on what the problems are here and how the UK compares internationally – we’ll continue with that as now. But a lot about the problems is known already and we will be pivoting far more towards finding and assessing solutions with others, something that feedback from you – our stakeholders – has encouraged us to do more of.

On improving health and inequalities, we will be exploring what an intelligent and proactive cross-government strategy would best look like given the fiscal environment. A constant drumbeat of work will be finding impactful ways to address inequality – at national and local level – as will trialling solutions to the growing problem of health-related economic inactivity.

On health and care services, we will be working more with others to identify better solutions and remove obstacles to progress. Nowhere is this needed more than in the field of technology, particularly AI – the great hope for improving care quality and cost. Independent (rapid) evaluation of potential solutions is becoming even more valuable to help them spread, given the widespread incentives to overclaim the benefits in a highly pressurised environment. And we will be working on some ‘What if?’ questions, such as, what happens if the NHS cannot raise productivity and performance slides?

We will continue to build capability of future leaders in health and care services, for example through our two international programmes – the Harkness Fellowship Programme (co-funded with the Commonwealth Fund in New York) and the Sciana Leaders programme (co-funded with our German and Swiss counterparts Bosch Stiftung and Careum Stiftung). Look out for our new international event later in the year.

We will radically step up our events and convening throughout 2026 and beyond – holding more in-person events, seminars and other activities to bring people together around evidence, analysis or questions for now and the future. The aim is to cast our net wider, bringing together diverse voices and viewpoints to shape thinking on issues and solutions, as well as on future horizon scanning and strategic intelligence. So, expect more on that – sign up to our weekly newsletter to have early sight of our events and webinars that you can join. 

And finally

I am thrilled to say that Daniel Law is joining us from NHS England in February as our new Director of Analysis, taking over from valued colleague Charles Tallack. We are all very much looking forward to welcoming him here.  

I also want to say how very sad we were to hear about the passing of Professor Tim Draycott, who was an improvement science fellow (cohort 1) and received Foundation funding for PROMPT – a very successful method of training to improve maternity safety. Tim was an outstanding leader and will be hugely missed by many. The Tim Draycott Scholarship Fund launched last month – if you would like to donate to help continue Tim’s work on maternity safety.

Looking forward very much to working with you in some way in 2026. Happy new year everyone.