Sarah Scobie

Who Sarah Scobie is

Dr Sarah Scobie is Deputy Director of Research at the Nuffield Trust, an independent health think tank based in London. She joined the Nuffield Trust in 2018, having previously held senior analytical roles in the NHS, public health, and arm's-length bodies including the National Patient Safety Agency and the Healthcare Commission. Her work focuses on quality of care, evaluation, and developing analytical research methods. She leads the QualityWatch programme, a joint initiative with the Health Foundation that provides independent scrutiny of how the quality of health and social care is changing over time. She has also led work on ethnic variation in elective care, end-of-life care, and is leading the Nuffield Trust's project on assisted dying and lessons from international experience.

References for this biography

1. 1.Dr Sarah Scobie | Nuffield Trust — Confirms role title, organisation, joined date (2018), prior career in NHS/arm's-length bodies, research focus areas including QualityWatch, end-of-life care, and assisted dying project
2. 2.Assisted dying in practice: International experiences and implications for health and social care | Nuffield Trust — Confirms Scobie as lead author on the 2025 Nuffield Trust assisted dying research report
3. 3.QualityWatch | Nuffield Trust — Confirms Scobie's named leadership of the QualityWatch programme, jointly with the Health Foundation
4. 4.Sarah Scobie – Sapien Care Group — Confirms PhD in medical geography and MSc in Health Economics and Health Policy; confirms NHS information specialist background including Healthcare Commission and National Patient Safety Agency
5. 5.Contact us | Nuffield Trust — Confirms organisational press office contact details: pressoffice@nuffieldtrust.org.uk and 020 7462 0555
6. 6.Acceptable use policy | Nuffield Trust — Confirms Nuffield Trust registered office address: 59 New Cavendish Street, London W1G 7LP
7. 7.Nuffield Trust – Bluesky Directory — Confirms @sarahscobie.bsky.social is Sarah Scobie's Bluesky account, listed in the official Nuffield Trust starter pack

Notable achievements

• Led the Nuffield Trust's 2025 research report on assisted dying in practice, examining international experiences and implications for health and social care systems ahead of UK parliamentary debates on legalisation. Source ↗
• Leads the QualityWatch programme, a joint Nuffield Trust and Health Foundation initiative providing independent scrutiny of how the quality of health and social care is changing over time. Source ↗
• Holds a PhD in Medical Geography from the University of Manchester and an MSc in Health Economics and Health Policy from the University of Birmingham. Source ↗

What Sarah Scobie has said

• “We have an ageing population which is now living with more health issues, and the government hopes its ambitions to shift more care closer to home will tackle some of the problems this poses. The NHS will need to harness the full potential of its fast-growing prescribing workforce to realise this change, but we have identified some worrying barriers.”

  Deputy Director of Research at Nuffield Trust · NHS & care workforce/staffing · 30 Sept 2026 · Report warns that a rapid rise in prescribers could be undermined by support gaps ↗

• “It is encouraging to see such a big drop in the planned treatment waiting list after several months of it stalling or moving in the wrong direction. The past year has shown that it can be very difficult for the NHS to sustain progress against the backlog, so often it can feel like two steps forward and one step back.”

  Deputy Director of Research, Nuffield Trust · NHS waiting lists · 30 Sept 2026 · Nuffield Trust response to the latest NHS performance stats ↗

• “Pressure is building to meet the March target for having under 22% of patients facing waits longer than four hours in A&E.”

  Nuffield Trust deputy director of research · NHS waiting lists · 30 Sept 2026 · Long waits in A&E rise sharply but overall NHS waiting list continues to fall ↗

• “It's absolutely shocking that two fifths of the most elderly patients going into A&E are stuck waiting for over 12 hours, often in unsafe conditions, when they are already extremely unwell and vulnerable.”

  Nuffield Trust deputy director of research · A&E & ambulance response · 30 Sept 2026 · Elderly patients twice as likely to endure A&E waiting times of more than 12 hours ↗

• “It's absolutely shocking that two-fifths of the most elderly patients going into A&E are stuck waiting for over 12 hours, often in unsafe conditions, when they are already extremely unwell and vulnerable.”

  Nuffield Trust Deputy Director of Research · A&E & ambulance response · 30 Sept 2026 · Over 2 in 5 of most elderly patients wait over 12 hours in A&E ↗

• “It's absolutely shocking that two fifths of the most elderly patients going into A&E are stuck waiting for over 12 hours, often in unsafe conditions, when they are already extremely unwell and vulnerable.”

  Nuffield Trust deputy director of research · A&E & ambulance response · 30 Sept 2026 · Elderly more likely to face long A&E waits than young people in latest indictment of NHS corridor care crisis ↗

• “With the overall size of the waiting list going up again, the uncomfortable truth is that there are now more people waiting for care, often in fear, distress and confusion, than there were last month.”

  deputy director of research, Nuffield Trust · NHS waiting lists · 30 Sept 2026 · ​Waiting list progress stalls in April ↗

• “It's absolutely shocking that two-fifths of the most elderly patients going into A&E are stuck waiting for over 12 hours, often in unsafe conditions, when they are already extremely unwell and vulnerable.”

  deputy director of research at the Nuffield Trust · A&E & ambulance response · 30 Sept 2026 · Older patients bear brunt of long A&E waits, report finds ↗

• “The balance between referrals for treatment versus treatment delivered hasn't changed much over the past few months, so it's likely that a big proportion of recent waiting list reductions have happened due to reasons other than the NHS boosting activity.”

  Nuffield Trust deputy director of research · NHS waiting lists · 30 Sept 2026 · NHS waiting list falls to lowest level in almost three years ↗

• “The latest stats reveal the last minute scramble the NHS is experiencing with the fast-approaching deadline to improve planned treatment waiting times. Seeing the waiting list fall substantially for a few months in a row is a relief, but the NHS is still some way off hitting the March goal of 65% of patients treated within 18 weeks.”

  Deputy Director of Research, Nuffield Trust · NHS waiting lists · 30 Sept 2026 · Short bursts of improvement on NHS waiting list but progress hard to sustain ↗

• “The fact that we even need a proper definition and data for corridor care in the NHS shows just how far A&E performance has spiralled out of control, with very long waits now the norm.”

  Nuffield Trust deputy director of research · NHS waiting lists · 30 Sept 2026 · Corridor care figures remain above 3,000 a day for July amid NHS ‘summer surge’ ↗

• “Today's data shows the NHS has made real progress in February and March to try to meet its interim targets. The fact that these improvements have not quite been fast enough is a reminder that the 'sprint' to improve waiting times is only the start of a marathon to come.”

  Deputy Director of Research, Nuffield Trust · A&E & ambulance response · 30 Sept 2026 · Consistent improvement needed after mixed progress during NHS ‘sprint’ ↗

• “The sporadic improvements we see are not all about the NHS delivering more care. There was another uptick in 'unreported removals' from the waiting list in January, which includes tidying up the data as much as possible by removing patients who don't need to be on there any more.”

  deputy director of research at the Nuffield Trust think tank · NHS waiting lists · 30 Sept 2026 · NHS 'removing patients from waiting lists' as Labour battles to clear the backlog ↗

• “We have an ageing population which is now living with more health issues, and the Government hopes its ambitions to shift more care closer to home will tackle some of the problems this poses. The NHS will need to harness the full potential of its fast-growing prescribing workforce to realise this change, but we have identified some worrying barriers.”

  deputy director of research at the Nuffield Trust · NHS & care workforce/staffing · 29 Sept 2026 · ‘Deskilling’ threat could drive pharmacist prescribers into private sector ↗

• “There has been little respite for the NHS this summer, with one heatwave following another. The Health Secretary is right to stress the need for the NHS to properly plan for how it copes with the extremes of summer like it does for winter.”

  Deputy Director of Research at the Nuffield Trust · A&E & ambulance response · 24 Aug 2026 · NHS records busiest-ever July for A&E as emergency demand surges during summer heatwaves ↗

• “Our analysis found that in recent months, as many as one in three patients who were admitted to hospital in an emergency waited over 12 hours between arriving in A&E and getting a hospital bed.”

  Nuffield Trust deputy director of research · NHS waiting lists · 24 Aug 2026 · NHS waiting list falls slightly despite record demand ↗

Where Sarah Scobie has been quoted

1. Damning data shows elderly and frail more likely to face 12-hour waits in A&Eaol.co.uk · 30 Sept 2026
2. Report warns that a rapid rise in prescribers could be undermined by support gapsnationalhealthexecutive.com · 30 Sept 2026
3. Nuffield Trust response to the latest NHS performance statsnuffieldtrust.org.uk · 30 Sept 2026
4. Long waits in A&E rise sharply but overall NHS waiting list continues to fallindependent.co.uk · 30 Sept 2026
5. Elderly patients twice as likely to endure A&E waiting times of more than 12 hoursindependent.co.uk · 30 Sept 2026
6. Over 2 in 5 of most elderly patients wait over 12 hours in A&Enuffieldtrust.org.uk · 30 Sept 2026
7. Elderly more likely to face long A&E waits than young people in latest indictment of NHS corridor care crisislbc.co.uk · 30 Sept 2026
8. ​Waiting list progress stalls in Aprilhealthcare-management.uk · 30 Sept 2026
9. Older patients bear brunt of long A&E waits, report findsnursinginpractice.com · 30 Sept 2026
10. NHS waiting list falls to lowest level in almost three yearsstandard.co.uk · 30 Sept 2026
11. Short bursts of improvement on NHS waiting list but progress hard to sustainnuffieldtrust.org.uk · 30 Sept 2026
12. Corridor care figures remain above 3,000 a day for July amid NHS ‘summer surge’thenational.scot · 30 Sept 2026
13. Consistent improvement needed after mixed progress during NHS ‘sprint’nuffieldtrust.org.uk · 30 Sept 2026
14. NHS 'removing patients from waiting lists' as Labour battles to clear the backloglbc.co.uk · 30 Sept 2026
15. ‘Deskilling’ threat could drive pharmacist prescribers into private sectorpharmacymagazine.co.uk · 29 Sept 2026
16. NHS records busiest-ever July for A&E as emergency demand surges during summer heatwavesnationalhealthexecutive.com · 24 Aug 2026
17. NHS waiting list falls slightly despite record demandhealthcare-management.uk · 24 Aug 2026

Related media coverage

Recent UK press coverage of their topics — not necessarily citing them directly.

• The NFL can’t survive 17 games. Why is it trying to sell 18?The New York Times
• It's National Space Week - this £18 telescope is 'perfect' for stargazingManchester Evening News
• These 30+ PS5 Games Are Coming Out Next Week (12th-18th October)Push Square

Contact & links

• Staff pagehttps://www.nuffieldtrust.org.uk/person/sarah-scobie
• LinkedInhttps://uk.linkedin.com/in/sarah-scobie-84051917
• Websitehttps://bsky.app/profile/sarahscobie.bsky.socialpublished here ↗
• Press office emailpressoffice@nuffieldtrust.org.ukpublished here ↗
• Press office phone020 7462 0555published here ↗

Organisational contact points only, each taken from a page the organisation publishes itself. No personal or direct contact details are held or shown.