#362 Delivering Digital Health: The SleepStation Story with Alison Gardiner - How It Got Commissioned
The Business of Healthcare Podcast with Tara Humphrey
Release Date: 01/28/2026
#372 How GP Practices Can Grow, Innovate & Truly Serve Patients With Nabeel Arshad
The Business of Healthcare Podcast with Tara Humphrey
In this episode of The Business of Healthcare, Tara sits down with GP partner and entrepreneur Nabeel Arshad to explore what it really means to run a modern general practice like a business. From growing a patient list from 10,000 to 20,000 in under five years, to transforming patient access through tech and communication, Nabeel shares practical, honest insights into what works, and what doesn’t. They discuss: Why GP practices must think like businesses (without losing patient care) How listening to patients drives meaningful growth The role of innovation, tech, and social...
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#371 Why Physio Belongs at the Heart of Primary Care with Phin Robinson
The Business of Healthcare Podcast with Tara Humphrey
What happens when a physio drives 35 minutes to see one patient, drives 35 minutes back, and does it again the next day? That's how Pure Physiotherapy started in 2006, in a small room off the back of a gym in Rotherham. Twenty years later, Finn Robinson's company supports nearly 250 PCNs across England, seeing over 90,000 patients a month. In this episode, Tara sits down with Phin, returning guest, founder of Pure Physio, to talk about what two decades of building in primary care actually looks like. They cover the 2026/27 GP contract, the uncapping of GP salaries within ARRS, the real risk...
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#370 Returning to Work After Bereavement: What Nobody Tells You About Grief and Work
The Business of Healthcare Podcast with Tara Humphrey
Returning to work after bereavement is one of the hardest things you will ever navigate — and almost nobody talks honestly about what it looks like from the inside. In this episode of The Business of Healthcare, Tara Humphrey shares her personal experience of working while grieving after losing her daughter. This is not a how-to guide. It is an honest, unfiltered account of what grief at work actually feels like — the contradictions, the cost of showing up, and what has genuinely helped. If you are currently working through bereavement, managing a team member who has experienced loss, or...
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#369 Funding, Advocacy & What Needs to Change with Dr Steve Taylor
The Business of Healthcare Podcast with Tara Humphrey
In this episode of The Business of Healthcare Podcast, Tara is joined by Dr Steve Taylor, Steve had been a GP Partner in Manchester since 1994 before leaving his partnership in 2021 to work as a locum. He was also a GP trainer for 24 years and involved in training more than 60 GPs. He started advocating for GPs and the NHS more generally in 2021 having more time to look at the issues and potential solutions. This started with exploring the data available and sharing findings via social media. In January 2023 he joined DAUK. This is an honest and thought-provoking...
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#368 Neighbourhoods, PCNs & The Future of Primary Care with Ben Gowland
The Business of Healthcare Podcast with Tara Humphrey
In this episode of The Business of Healthcare Podcast, Tara is joined by Ben Gowland, Director and Principal Consultant at Ockham Healthcare, to discuss the future of primary care, the role of relationships in effective leadership, and what the latest GP contract signals for Primary Care Networks and neighbourhood working. Ben & Tara reflect on how leadership, collaboration and system dynamics have evolved over the last decade, exploring the shift from PCNs towards neighbourhood based working, how leaders can build meaningful relationships in a rapidly changing NHS landscape, and...
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#367 Selling Healthcare Solutions with Jim Gabriel – How It Got Commissioned
The Business of Healthcare Podcast with Tara Humphrey
We’ve reached the final episode of our How It Got Commissioned series, and this one takes a different perspective. This week, Tara is joined by Jim Gabriel, Chief Commercial Officer of CardMedic, bringing a rare secondary care and commercial lens to one of healthcare’s biggest questions: How do you actually sell innovation into the NHS? While many conversations focus on ideas and innovation, Jim explores the reality behind commissioning, the strategy, relationships and science that turn good ideas into funded services. In...
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#366 Innovation, Integration & Impact with Neil Modha – How It Got Commissioned
The Business of Healthcare Podcast with Tara Humphrey
This week on The Business of Healthcare Podcast, we’re joined by Dr Neil Modha from Thistlemoor Medical Centre. Neil shares his insights on how primary care practices can identify opportunities, innovate services, and work collaboratively with hospitals to create sustainable, patient-focused solutions. In this episode, we cover: Turning opportunities into action - How Neil transformed unused space into an endoscopy unit in partnership with a hospital. Stacking services for impact - Using one facility to support multiple services, including health &...
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#365 Commissioning Without Waiting: A Primary Care Mental Health Solution with Faris Al-Ramadani – How It Got Commissioned
The Business of Healthcare Podcast with Tara Humphrey
In the fifth episode of The Business of Healthcare Podcast – How It Got Commissioned series, Tara is joined by Dr Faris Al-Ramadani, GP Partner and former Primary Care Network Clinical Director, to explore how a locally developed mental health service moved from frontline problem to a working, commissionable model during the COVID-19 pandemic. As demand for mental health support rapidly increased, general practice teams were seeing patients struggle to access timely care, with long waiting lists and practical barriers preventing many from engaging with existing services. Rather than...
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#364 Innovating Healthcare Delivery: The Barnardo’s Story with Rukshana Kapasi – How It Got Commissioned
The Business of Healthcare Podcast with Tara Humphrey
In this episode of The Business of Healthcare Podcast – How It Got Commissioned, Tara is joined by Rukshana Kapasi, Director of Health at Barnardo’s, the UK’s largest children’s charity. Rukshana shares the story behind a short-term pilot that placed family support workers in A&E to reduce avoidable and repeat attendances by children and young people. What began as a three month, winter-pressures pilot went on to generate compelling evidence, and ultimately informed a national NHS England rollout across seven regions. This conversation is a practical, honest look at...
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#363 Same Day Access: The Tower Hamlets Story with Selvaseelan Selvarajah – How It Got Commissioned
The Business of Healthcare Podcast with Tara Humphrey
In the third episode of the 'How It Got Commissioned' series, Tara is joined by Dr Selvaseelan Selvarajah to explore how the Same Day Access service was commissioned and developed in Tower Hamlets. Selvaseelan shares the real story behind designing a service from scratch to address one of the biggest pressures in primary care: same day access. Together, they unpack how collaboration between PCNs, commissioners, and local GPs led to a model that works for patients, practices, and the wider system. This conversation goes beyond theory, offering practical insight into...
info_outlineIn this episode of The Business of Healthcare Podcast – How It Got Commissioned, Tara is joined by Alison Gardiner, Founder of Born Digital Health and Co-Founder & CEO of Sleepstation, a digital health service focused on improving sleep at scale across the NHS.
Alison shares the real story behind how Sleepstation was commissioned, scaled, and sustained through major system change, offering practical insight into what commissioners look for, how digital services succeed at scale, and why understanding budgets and context is critical.
This episode is about:
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How Sleepstation moved from a local project to national and regional commissioning
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Why digital does not automatically mean scalable
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Understanding NHS budgets and the percentage you’re really asking for
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Working in partnership rather than relying solely on tenders
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Navigating system change, competition, and shifting commissioning structures
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The role of data, outcomes, and real-world impact beyond access
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Why many pilots fail to scale, and how to avoid getting stuck there
Alison shares openly what worked, what didn’t, and what she’s learned from delivering digital services at significant scale within primary care and wider NHS systems.
If you’re building, commissioning, or supporting digital health innovation, this episode offers grounded, experience-led insight into how services really get commissioned, and sustained, in practice.
Visit the Sleepstation website
Connect with Alison Gardiner on LinkedIn