Tim Gardner is a Senior Policy Fellow at the Health Foundation.
Tim joined the Health Foundation in 2014. He works in the policy team, which works to analyse, understand, and inform national policies on health and social care in England.
Before he joined the Health Foundation, Tim spent over ten years at the Department of Health and Social Care working on policy and legislation in a variety of roles. This included work on NHS strategy, health and social care integration and the Government's response to the Francis Inquiry. Prior to that, he worked on NHS performance across a range of areas including primary care, cancer and mental health. He was also Secretary to the Departmental and NHS Management Boards and an Assistant Private Secretary to the Chief Medical Officer.
Tim has also spent time at NHS England and NHS Improvement, as well three years working on children's social care policy at the Department for Education. He has an MSc in Health Policy from Imperial College London.
For media enquiries please contact the media office.
Latest articles
Data analysis
Waiting for NHS hospital care: the role of the independent sector
New analysis explores the role of independent sector health care providers in delivering NHS-funded...
Chart
Health and care for older adults during the pandemic
Between March and June 2021, The Commonwealth Fund surveyed older adults across 11 countries about...
Long read
How can the UK COVID-19 Inquiry bring about meaningful change?
Government has published the draft terms of reference for the UK COVID-19 Inquiry. But how can the...
Long read
Public perceptions of the NHS and social care: performance, policy and expectations
Launching a new public polling programme with Ipsos, this long read sets out public views of health...
Long read
Caring for older patients with complex needs
How does the NHS in England compare with health care systems in 11 OECD countries?
Long read
Going green: what do the public think about the NHS and climate change?
What do the public think about climate change, health and the NHS net zero ambition, and why does...
Long read
How could the Health and Care Bill strengthen action on health inequalities?
The NHS has an important role in narrowing health inequalities, but progress has been slow and the...
Chart
Elective care: how has COVID-19 affected the waiting list?
Latest analysis looks at the scale of the elective care backlog, and how pent-up demand is affecting...
Analysis
The NHS Long Term Plan and COVID-19
Our assessment of progress against the main pledges in the NHS Long Term Plan and the impact of...
Newsletter blog
How will the public mood shape care after the pandemic?
Tim Gardner discusses the results from recent public polling explored during a webinar co-hosted...
Chart
Longer waits, missing patients and catching up
Six charts looking at the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on consultant-led elective care.
Blog
A year tracking COVID-19 policy
We reflect on the insights gleaned from a year monitoring developments via our COVID-19 policy...
Chart
Non-COVID-19 NHS care during the pandemic
COVID-19 has disrupted hospital care for tens of thousands of patients. Our analysis covers activity...
Long read
Elective care in England
This long read looks at what we know so far about the pandemic’s impact in 2020 on elective care in...
Newsletter feature
What the public thinks – another five things we learnt from our COVID-19 polling
Our latest polling uncovered changes in public perceptions on key issues around COVID-19 and the...
Blog
Should the government rethink its immigration policy for social care?
Lucinda Allen and Tim Gardner discuss new polling that shows strong public support for an...
Chart
Five things we learnt from our polling on public perceptions during COVID-19
What are the five things we've learnt so far from a Ipsos MORI polling (commissioned by the Health...
Chart
How has NHS 111 shaped public demand for the NHS in England during the pandemic?
Emma Vestesson and Tim Gardner look at what recent changes in patient interaction with NHS services...
Long read
Returning NHS waiting times to 18 weeks for routine treatment
In January 2020 there was a backlog of over 1,000,000 patients awaiting elective surgery which...
Blog
What did the Conservative manifesto promise on health and care?
Tim Gardner reflects on the health and care policies set out in the Conservative manifesto
Long read
NHS performance and waiting times
We explore how the NHS in England is performing and set out priorities for the next government.
Blog
GP waiting times: learning from the past
Tim Gardner examines the lessons manifesto authors should learn from past policies.
Blog
A&Es under pressure: what the data can tell us
As A&E attendances hit a record high, Tim Gardner explores the divergent pressures facing emergency...
Briefing
NHS at 70: How good is the NHS?
The first of five briefings to inform and encourage a national conversation about the past, present,...
Briefing
Emergency hospital admissions in England
New research led by the Health Foundation looks at trends in emergency admissions over the past...
Blog
NHS winter pressures: Going home from hospital
Tim Gardner looks at delays leaving hospital and returning home last winter.
Blog
NHS winter pressures: Going into hospital
In this 2017 blog about winter pressures on the NHS, we look at what is happening at the front door...
Briefing
Partnerships for improvement: ingredients for success
What makes for successful partnerships between providers at an organisational level?
Briefing
Election briefing: Quality of care in the English NHS
This is second of three Health Foundation briefings ahead of the 2017 General Election
Blog
What lies ahead for health and social care?
The die has been cast and the 2017 General Election is firmly underway – so what now lies ahead for...
Briefing
Reducing hospital admissions by improving continuity of care in general practice
This briefing summarises research that analysed data from over 230,000 anonymised patient records...
Blog
Do we now have a basis for a coherent quality strategy in the NHS?
The end of last year saw the publication of a significant new policy document: the National Quality...
Blog
A fair performance? Findings from the 2016 international health policy survey
The NHS occupies a unique place among our national institutions, regularly topping polls of what...
Blog
Pride, prejudice and policymaking
Ipsos MORI’s regular index of what the British public see as the important issues of the day...
Blog
Targets, trajectories and waiting times
The publication of the Department of Health (DH) annual accounts has been well reported: they showed...
Blog
The potential offered by a coherent NHS quality strategy
Aneurin Bevan’s famous dropped bedpan continues to echo through the corridors of Whitehall, defying...
Research report
A clear road ahead
The report recommends the creation of a single, coherent and compelling quality strategy for the NHS...
Blog
What cycling can teach the devolved NHS about working as a group
Last month I got up unpleasantly early on a Sunday morning, met up with a small group of fellow...
Blog
Cold comfort? How the NHS fared this winter
Meteorologists define winter as December to February: the three calendar months when the weather is...
Blog
Performance and pedometers: Making effective use of NHS targets
I recently acquired some ‘cutting-edge wearable technology’ that improves my personal performance...
Analysis
On targets
This analysis explores how national targets can be used most effectively to improve the quality of...
Blog
Does a financial crisis in the health service mean a crisis in quality of care?
The NHS’ delayed first quarter financial results for 2015/16 hit last week’s headlines in a big way....
Blog
The best of both worlds? Bringing together Monitor and the NHS Trust Development Authority
Will they or won’t they? The long-running, on again/off again relationship saga is a device familiar...
Research project
Using and removing national performance targets in the NHS
This research aims to create a resource to support policymakers in setting better national...
Blog
A chain reaction? Anticipating the Dalton review
The Danish physicist Niels Bohr allegedly observed that it’s hard to make predictions, especially...
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