Tim GardnerThink tank

Biography

Tim Gardner is Deputy Director of Policy at the Health Foundation, an independent charitable organisation working to build a healthier UK. He sits in the policy team, which analyses and informs national policies on health and social care in England. He joined the Health Foundation in 2014, having previously spent over ten years at the Department of Health and Social Care working on policy and legislation, including NHS strategy, health and social care integration, and the government's response to the Francis Inquiry. He has also worked at NHS England and NHS Improvement, and spent three years on children's social care policy at the Department for Education. Gardner is regularly quoted in the UK press on NHS waiting lists, elective care recovery, urgent and emergency care pressures, and the need for reform and investment in social care.

References

1. 1.Tim Gardner – Deputy Director of Policy | The Health Foundation — Current role title, organisation, career history at DHSC, NHS England/Improvement and DfE, and join date of 2014
2. 2.Our spokespeople | The Health Foundation — Confirms Tim Gardner is a named Health Foundation spokesperson for media comment
3. 3.The Health Foundation responds to the government's 10 Year Capital Plan — Most recent (July 2026) press release quoting Gardner by his current Deputy Director of Policy title
4. 4.Health Foundation comment on Elective Recovery Taskforce — Example of Gardner quoted in press on NHS elective waiting lists under earlier Assistant Director title
5. 5.Tim Gardner, The Health Foundation – Written supplementary evidence (AES0052)

Expertise

Cited on

• Hospital discharge / bed-blocking

Stated areas of expertise

• NHS elective care and waiting lists
• Urgent and emergency care
• Health and social care integration
• NHS performance and productivity
• Health policy analysis
• Social care workforce and investment

Notable achievements

• Submitted written supplementary evidence to a UK parliamentary committee on urgent and emergency care pressures and the systemic need to expand social care provision. Source ↗
• Appointed Deputy Director of Policy at the Health Foundation, listed as the organisation's most prolific policy team author with 40 attributed publications. Source ↗
• Quoted as a named spokesperson by the Health Foundation responding to the government's 10 Year Capital Plan for the NHS in July 2026. Source ↗

What they’ve said

• “Resorting to corridor care is not a safe way to run a health service. Long delays in A&E departments put patients at risk of avoidable harm and take a major toll on NHS staff trying to deliver care in impossible situations.”

  Assistant Director of Policy, The Health Foundation · Hospital discharge / bed-blocking · 27 Aug 2026 · Corridor care ‘new normal’ in England for one in five NHS inpatients ↗

• “Recent progress is encouraging, but meeting the government's pledges to reduce waiting times will require a herculean effort. It's touch and go whether the current 'sprint' will be enough to meet this month's interim target, with substantial variation across the country and some trusts struggling to even get close.”

  assistant director of policy at the Health Foundation · Hospital discharge / bed-blocking · 27 Aug 2026 · NHS to miss targets for cutting A&E wait times and performance in England ↗

Source references

1. Corridor care ‘new normal’ in England for one in five NHS inpatientstheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026
2. NHS to miss targets for cutting A&E wait times and performance in Englandtheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026

Contact & links

• Staff pagehttps://www.health.org.uk/about-the-health-foundation/our-people/policy-team/tim-gardner
• Xhttps://x.com/TimGardnerTHF
• Press office emailmediaoffice@health.org.ukpublished here ↗
• Press office phone020 7257 8001published here ↗

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