Tim Gardner Senior Policy Fellow

Policy team
A profile image of Tim Gardner

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

Data analysis

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

Chart

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?

Long read

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

Long read

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

Long read

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?

Long read

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?

Long read

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?

Chart

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

Analysis

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?

Newsletter blog

Tim Gardner discusses the results from recent public polling explored during a webinar co-hosted...

Chart

Longer waits, missing patients and catching up

Chart

Six charts looking at the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on consultant-led elective care.

Blog

A year tracking COVID-19 policy

Blog

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

Chart

COVID-19 has disrupted hospital care for tens of thousands of patients. Our analysis covers activity...

Long read

Elective care in England

Long read

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

Newsletter feature

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?

Blog

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

Chart

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?

Chart

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

Long read

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?

Blog

Tim Gardner reflects on the health and care policies set out in the Conservative manifesto

Long read

NHS performance and waiting times

Long read

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

Blog

Tim Gardner examines the lessons manifesto authors should learn from past policies.

Blog

A&Es under pressure: what the data can tell us

Blog

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?

Briefing

The first of five briefings to inform and encourage a national conversation about the past, present,...

Briefing

Emergency hospital admissions in England

Briefing

New research led by the Health Foundation looks at trends in emergency admissions over the past...

Blog

NHS winter pressures: Going home from hospital

Blog

Tim Gardner looks at delays leaving hospital and returning home last winter.

Blog

NHS winter pressures: Going into hospital

Blog

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

Briefing

What makes for successful partnerships between providers at an organisational level?

Briefing

Election briefing: Quality of care in the English NHS

Briefing

This is second of three Health Foundation briefings ahead of the 2017 General Election

Blog

What lies ahead for health and social care?

Blog

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

Briefing

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?

Blog

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

Blog

The NHS occupies a unique place among our national institutions, regularly topping polls of what...

Blog

Pride, prejudice and policymaking

Blog

Ipsos MORI’s regular index of what the British public see as the important issues of the day...

Blog

Targets, trajectories and waiting times

Blog

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

Blog

Aneurin Bevan’s famous dropped bedpan continues to echo through the corridors of Whitehall, defying...

Research report

A clear road ahead

Research report

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

Blog

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

Blog

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

Blog

I recently acquired some ‘cutting-edge wearable technology’ that improves my personal performance...

Analysis

On targets

Analysis

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?

Blog

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

Blog

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

Research project

This research aims to create a resource to support policymakers in setting better national...

Blog

A chain reaction? Anticipating the Dalton review

Blog

The Danish physicist Niels Bohr allegedly observed that it’s hard to make predictions, especially...

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