It arises out of a special interest group on the future of health that was constituted in Lisbon in 2010, under the aegis of the European Society for Quality in Healthcare.

By 2012/3 a number of us associated with the Board of ESQH decided, after some consultation with policy advisors from the European Commission, to set up a new NGO dedicated to looking at health and healthcare ‘outside of the box’. This would allow us to have a more holistic view of the context of health and to consider the role of other societal stakeholders whose actions influence health, such as industry and education.

We therefore constituted EHFF as a company limited by guarantee at Companies House London, in March 2013 and spent time building the brand, principally by setting up a website, recruiting interested professionals to a community of practice (now over 100 strong) and participation in a number of European Commission projects.

With the threat of Brexit, after extensive consultation we registered EHFF as a company limited by guarantee in Ireland, in September 2017. Charity status was then applied for and since May 2018 EHFF is registered with the Irish Charities Regulatory Authority. EHFF (Ireland) is now the main agency for EHFF activity in Europe. Meanwhile we have registered a name change with Companies House, London and are now constituted as a not-for-profit organisation in the UK as EHFF.UK.