Health Foundation

The Health Foundation, formerly known as the PPP Foundation, is a British charity which carries out research and policy analysis into health care. It also runs improvement programmes to put ideas into practice in the NHS, support and develop leaders and share evidence to encourage wider change.

History

It was founded in 1983 as the PPP Medical Trust with a donation of £350,000 a year from Private Patients Plan Limited. In 1998, the organisation, then named the PPP Healthcare Medical Trust, became fully independent with an endowment of approximately £540 million resulting from the sale of the PPP Healthcare group to Guardian Royal Exchange. It spends around £17 million a year, considerably more than any of the other British health policy charities.

Stephen Thornton was the Chief Executive from 2001 until October 2013 when he retired and was succeeded by Dr Jennifer Dixon, Chief Executive of the Nuffield Trust from 2008 to 2013. Prior to this, she was director of policy at The King’s Fund and was the policy advisor to the Chief Executive of the National Health Service between 1998 and 2000. The Chair of Governors is Sir Alan Langlands.

Health

Health is the level of functional or metabolic efficiency of a living organism. In humans it is the ability of individuals or communities to adapt and self-manage when facing physical, mental or social challenges. The World Health Organization (WHO) defined health in its broader sense in its 1948 constitution as "a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity." This definition has been subject to controversy, in particular as lacking operational value and because of the problem created by use of the word "complete" Other definitions have been proposed, among which a recent definition that correlates health and personal satisfaction. Classification systems such as the WHO Family of International Classifications, including the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) and the International Classification of Diseases (ICD), are commonly used to define and measure the components of health. Health is that balanced condition of the living organism in which the integral, harmonious performance of the vital functions tends to the preservation of the organism and the normal development of the individual.

Foundation

Foundation may refer to:

Organizations

Literature

Music

Mental Health Foundation

The Mental Health Foundation was founded in 1949. It is a British charitable organisation that provides information, carries out research, and campaigns to improve services for people affected by mental health problems. It now incorporates the Foundation for People with Learning Disabilities.

History and origins

In 1949 Derek Richter, a neurochemist with an interest in mental health, and Ian Henderson, a stockbroker, formed the Mental Health Research Fund (MHRF), with the aim of raising funds to award grants for research in mental health. In 1972 the Fund merged with another fundraising body, The Mental Health Trust, and in 1973 was renamed the Mental Health Foundation.

Aims

The strategic objectives of the Mental Health Foundation are to make mental health a core issue in the UK and to improve services and community support for people with leaming disabilities and people with mental health problems. It also aims to sustain its development through excellent management and high quality fundraising and support services. In 2007 the then Chief Executive described the main purpose of the Foundation as "to try to mainstream mental health as an issue so it is a core part of everything else".

Mental health

Mental health is a level of psychological well-being, or an absence of a mental disorder; it is the "psychological state of someone who is functioning at a satisfactory level of emotional and behavioral adjustment". From the perspective of positive psychology or holism, mental health may include an individual's ability to enjoy life, and create a balance between life activities and efforts to achieve psychological resilience. According to World Health Organization (WHO) mental health includes "subjective well-being, perceived self-efficacy, autonomy, competence, intergenerational dependence, and self-actualization of one's intellectual and emotional potential, among others." WHO further states that the well-being of an individual is encompassed in the realization of their abilities, coping with normal stresses of life, productive work and contribution to their community. However, cultural differences, subjective assessments, and competing professional theories all affect how "mental health" is defined.