About the Health Foundation

We are an independent charitable organisation working to build a healthier UK.

Health is our most precious asset. Good health and wellbeing enables us to live happy, fulfilling lives and frees us up to achieve our potential. It fuels our prosperity – a healthy and productive labour force is the engine that powers our economy. And it helps to build a stronger society by enabling us to play a full part in family life, make social connections and contribute to our communities.

Our health is shaped by a range of factors including our early life, the work we do and the income we earn, the education we receive and the homes and places we live in. The health and care system should support good health and wellbeing by enabling everyone to access the high-quality treatment, care and support they need, when they need it. 

Yet, good health remains out of reach for too many people in the UK. Improvements in life expectancy have slowed. We compare poorly with other leading nations on some important aspects of our health, such as cancer and heart disease. Deep inequalities in health between our poorest and wealthiest communities have widened. Meanwhile, health and care services are under huge pressure and struggling to provide access to timely, high-quality care.

It doesn’t have to be like this. By valuing our health as an asset, investing in health and care services and focusing on the wider factors that shape our health and drive inequalities, we can build a healthier nation.

About the Role

As an Intern, you will gain wide-ranging experience across the Health Foundation to obtain a thorough grounding in a respected think tank in the health and care charity sector. You will undertake project work as well as operational responsibilities.

Interns will undertake two placements in different directorates (Healthy Lives, Innovation and Improvement, Policy, Data Analytics, Research and REAL Centre, Communications, or Corporate Services) during the 12-month appointment to gain an in-depth understanding of how each area works and to give you time to immerse yourself within tasks and projects in each team. This will also allow you to gain broad experience of the Health Foundation, explore your areas of interest and discover what it’s like to work in an independent charity. You will do this as part of a cohort of up to eight interns, receiving learning and development opportunities, detailed below, to support you throughout, including bespoke sessions and those open to all colleagues with networking opportunities. You will also be allocated a mentor for the duration of the programme to provide you with a supportive, independent guide.

We will give you the training and support you need to get involved in the day-to-day delivery of our work and support longer term projects. We will also aim to support you with any specialist skills or areas that you want to develop.

The responsibilities undertaken by the Interns are expected to increase as the programme progresses. By the end of the programme, Interns should be in a position to take on a substantive role with the necessary skills to develop a career within the health and care sector, and wider charity and not for profit sectors.

This is an entry-level role and we are keen to hear from candidates with a range of different experiences.

Shortlisted candidates will be asked to rank the placements that they would be prepared to work on in the final stage of the recruitment process. Please note that while we endeavour to place Interns in their preferred directorates, it is not always possible and there is no guarantee you will be allocated a particular placement. You should be flexible and open-minded when applying for this role.

You can view the full Job Description, which includes the Person Specification, here.

Descriptions of each Directorate are below, and you can find out more about what we do at: https://www.health.org.uk/

Recruitment timeline

24 January 2024: Applications open

23 February 2024: Application deadline - the portal will close at 23:59 on this date. You will not be able to apply after this time.

6 March 2024: Completion of online assessment & video interview

8 March 2024: Candidates notified of shortlisting outcomes

12 March 2024, 6-7.30pm: Virtual host evening – SAVE THE DATE

14 March 2024: Placement preferences submission deadline for shortlisted candidates

18 – 21 March 2024: Virtual interviews – SAVE THE DATE

25 March 2024: Candidates notified of interview outcomes

1 May 2024: Internship commences (please note we are unable to accept applications for deferred entry to the scheme. All posts will commence on 1 May 2024.)

*Dates may be subject to change

Application guidance

There are 3 stages to the recruitment process as follows:

• Online application & CV submission
• Blended assessment & video interview
• Interviews with The Health Foundation 

During the application form you will have the opportunity to let us know about any adjustments or additional support you may require, after which a member of the team will contact you ensure everything is put in place as you need. If you think you may need adjustments but aren't sure, or would like to further understand the process and discuss potential options, then please contact the team on healthfoundation@ambertrack.co.uk or call us on 01635 279806.

Host evening

A virtual host evening event will take place via MS Teams on Tuesday 12 March 2024 between 6–7.30pm GMT. This is a helpful networking session for prospective Interns to have the opportunity to talk to host Directorates to understand more about the Foundation and the type of work you might be involved in as part of the Internship Programme. You will meet in small groups with each host representative(s) to hear about the placements and ask questions. The event sign-up link will be released to shortlisted candidates before the host evening. There is no requirement to attend.

Placement Preferences

After the host evening, shortlisted candidates will be asked to rank the placements that they would be prepared to work on; this must be submitted by 5pm GMT on Thursday 14 March 2024. If successfully appointed to the scheme, there will then be a matching process based on performance at interview and ranking preferences.

Interviews

Before the interview

Shortlisted candidates will be contacted by email on 7 and 8 March 2024 to book their interview slots on a first come, first served basis. Interviews will be held virtually for maximum accessibility from 18-21 March 2024; alternative dates are not available.

During the interview

The interview will last for approximately one hour and is comprised of a 10-minute presentation and a question and answer-based panel interview. The questions and presentation will be released to candidates one week before the interview.

After the interview

All candidates will be notified of the outcome within two weeks of interviews.

Successful candidates will be sent guidance on next steps. Candidates will need to submit a reference within 3 weeks of accepting the post. The reference should be from their most recent employer, or, if they do not have one, an academic reference can be accepted.

Unsuccessful candidates will be provided feedback on their interview within four weeks of interview.

Appointment conditions

For details of salary, benefits and other information, please refer to the Job Description.

Host Directorates

At the Health Foundation we are structured into seven directorates, described below, all of which will host Interns for 2024/25. Details of each placement will be made available to shortlisted candidates.

Healthy Lives

Director: Jo Bibby, Director of Health

The Healthy Lives directorate has an ambitious strategy to improve population health and reduce health inequalities through action on the wider determinants of health. The greatest influences on people's health and wellbeing come from outside health care. These include factors such as education, employment, housing and community. Yet the public’s health has been largely viewed as the output of health departments rather than the consequence of overall government policy. We produce analysis and fund programmes on the ground to support action at the national, local and regional level on the wider determinants of health. 

Innovation and Improvement

Director: Malte Gerhold, Director of Innovation and Improvement

The Innovation and Improvement directorate is responsible for a significant share of the Health Foundation’s charitable spend on programmes and research. It deals with topics such as the use of technology and data to improve care and efficiency, integrated care systems, new models of care, the spread and adoption of innovation, and management and leadership within health and social care services. The directorate works on a diverse range of projects and activities, with multiple routes to impact; examples include delivery of the Q Community, funding programmes such as Adopting Innovation and Common Ambition, and in-house research such as Switched on and Developing learning health systems in the UK. 

Policy

Director: Hugh Alderwick, Director of Policy

The Policy directorate aims to support more evidence-informed policies on health and social care in the UK, contributing to better population health. We do this by analysing, understanding, and informing national policies on health and social care in the UK, with a particular focus on the overall direction of the health system in England and how it is performing. This includes work on national policy changes and priorities in health and social care (such as the development of integrated care systems in the NHS or improving access to primary care), the approaches used to improve performance (such as greater devolution or cross-sector collaboration), the overall performance of the health system (for example, through public polling and international comparisons), and several other policy areas. We focus primarily on public policy—that is, health policies made by government or elsewhere in the public sector. And we analyse health policy in its political context. The policy team works closely with other parts of the Foundation to do this, including our REAL Centre that provides long-term projections on health care funding and staffing. 

Data Analytics

Director: Charles Tallack, Director of Data Analytics

The Data Analytics directorate is a team of around 25 people within the Health Foundation, which plays a core role in delivering the Foundation’s overall mission and strategy. We use cutting-edge approaches to provide insights about the health of the UK population as well as health and care system performance including problems, their causes, and potential solutions. We also support analysts across the Foundation with access to data and tools, and support and promote the use of data analytics across the health and care system. 

Research and REAL Centre

Director: Anita Charlesworth, Director of Research and REAL Centre

Research

The Research team’s work is central to the Health Foundation and comprises a mix of in-house and externally awarded and commissioned programmes. The research team is responsible for managing  a varied and ambitious portfolio of externally commissioned research and evaluation work, which places a strong emphasis on building the evidence base for improving people’s health, understanding the quality of health and care, making health and care more sustainable, and improving health care delivery.  

The team aim for the research and evaluation work they commission to have wide impact on policy and practice and influence the future direction and planning of the Foundation's work. The portfolio encompasses independent evaluations, evidence reviews, original research awards, and knowledge mobilisation activities to explore what works to improve health, heath care and social care. 

REAL Centre

The REAL Centre (Research and Economic Analysis for the Long-term) was set up in 2019 to improve long-term decision making in health and social care. We do this through work to support leaders and policymakers in these sectors to understand the implications of their funding and resourcing decisions over the next 10-15 years. The REAL Centre is an expert team that contributes to each of the Health Foundation's three strategic priorities across a range of themes, including workforce, funding, social care, efficiency, primary care, and performance. A major strategic focus of the REAL Centre is to develop better understanding of the pressures facing demand and supply of health and care through modelling, focusing particularly on projection modelling.  

Communications

Director: Patrick South, Director of Communications

The Communications directorate helps the Health Foundation to communicate about its work in a way that is impactful and influential. We aim to build a strong identity and reputation for the organisation, shape products and programmes that people want and need, and form persuasive ideas for policymakers and leaders in the health and care arena. The Communications directorate consists of four functional teams: Content and Marketing, External Affairs, Team Enablement, and Internal Communications and have responsibility for digital communications, marketing, events, media, external affairs and publications. 

Corporate Services

Director: Nick Bateson, Chief Operating Officer

The Corporate Services directorate consists of five main teams: Finance, People, Information Management and Technology, Strategy and Planning, and Governance. The team’s role is organisational-wide and is to enable the implementation of the Health Foundation’s strategy, and the mission to make the Foundation a great place to work. They do this through delivering the very best support services and processes that drive and underpin the development and delivery of our strategy and business plan, and by continually improving our people approaches, operational processes and alignment to our values.

Learning and Development

Throughout the programme, Interns will be offered numerous learning and development opportunities. These include bespoke sessions as well as those open to all colleagues:

• Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
• Giving and receiving feedback
• Understanding self and others
• Successful Mentoring
• CV, Application & Interview skills
• Writing Skills

You will be allocated a mentor for the duration of the programme and will have access to a range of opportunities to enhance their networks.

FAQs

Can I defer entry to the scheme?

We are unable to accept applications for deferred entry to the scheme. All posts will commence on 1 May 2024.

Can I do the role remotely?

It is not possible to do this role remotely. Interns will need to be in our London office on average at least two days a week.