Start sleeping better

Meet the team

Sleepstation, created by Born Digital Health, is a market leading, NHS-endorsed, sleep improvement programme. Sleepstation helps people sleep well by combining proven psychological methods with personalised support and guidance. Sleepstation can resolve sleep problems like insomnia without medication.

Born Digital Health is helping shape the future of digital health. We believe that everyone deserves a good night’s sleep and that no-one should suffer from treatable conditions such as insomnia. Our digital health service can provide fast, effective, reliable and accessible care.

Designing for better lives

Sleepstation delivers remote care with a personal touch. Our services are designed to give people control over their care, supporting them to develop the knowledge, skills and confidence they need to manage their own health more effectively.

When we first developed Sleepstation, we wanted to discover if we could create an online version of the treatment patients received for insomnia at leading sleep clinics (CBTi). We hoped that our online version would have similar success rates but with the many added benefits of online access like no waiting lists, no need to take time off work to attend a clinic, no travel costs etc. We partnered with leading UK sleep doctors to develop a digital solution (Sleepstation) and we were amazed by the results.

We did not anticipate that Sleepstation would be significantly more effective than face-to-face treatment with CBTi and these findings led to wide-scale adoption of the Sleepstation service by NHS commissioners. After delivering this digital sleep service both privately and for the NHS across England for over 10 years, we now understand more fully the clear benefits of delivering health services in this way. We work closely with commissioners and providers across health services and global corporations to deliver affordable, effective digital health services that really change lives.

A recent study has shown Sleepstation to be three times more engaging than other online sleep programmes. The personalised support is what sets Sleepstation apart.

Mary from St Albans

Mary, 64 from St Albans

Insomnia for over three years

Your support has been invaluable, and has been key to keeping me on track and getting through quite a tough transition. Your quick responses to the difficult days have been really encouraging and I wouldn’t change anything about the programme. It’s such a relief to have someone to guide and encourage me in taking control of my sleep problems.

Laptop and coffee

Founders

Avatar for Alison Gardiner

Alison Gardiner

Founder & CEO

Alison has a background in Behavioural Psychology and a special interest in the development of persuasive technologies. She has advised government and corporate clients across the world on the design, development and roll-out of technologies designed to bring about positive behavioural changes for the individual. At BDH, her team develop market leading digital therapeutics. Alison has trained under leading sleep experts and co-designed the Sleepstation programme.

Dr Kirstie Anderson

Dr Anderson

Co-founder

Dr Anderson is one of the UK’s foremost sleep specialists. She helped develop the Sleepstation programme and delivers the therapy videos within the programme. She runs the Regional Neurology Sleep Service at Newcastle Hospitals, one of the largest centres of its kind in the UK. Her work has been widely published and she has a clinical and research interest in all sleep disorders.

Dr Paul Goldsmith

Dr Goldsmith

Co-founder

Dr Goldsmith is a Consultant Neurologist who trained in Cambridge, Oxford, London and Newcastle. Paul has a wide breadth of clinical, drug development, digital health and governance experience as well as extensive experience in frontline clinical medicine. Paul has held NHS Clinical Networks, Vanguard and Senate roles and has published in excess of 40 peer reviewed publications.

Governance

Professor Oliver James

Professor James

Clinical Advisor

Oliver has worked in and around the NHS for over 40 years. He was a Consultant Physician, Professor of Medicine and Pro Vice-Chancellor of the Newcastle University Medical School. He has also been Senior Vice President of the Royal College of Physicians, and a member of the North East Strategic Health Authority, Medical Director at the AHSN North East & North Cumbria and has been Chair of the HEE Local Education and Training Board.

Professor Joe McDonald

Professor McDonald

Medical Director

Having spent more than 35 years working as an NHS Doctor, and 28 years as a Consultant Psychiatrist, Joe is well placed to advise our team on medicine and mental health. He also has a special interest in Digital Health. Prior to his appointment at Sleepstation, he founded the Great North Care Record and worked as the National Clinical Lead for IT for the NHS. He is a Professor of Health Informatics Practice.

Matt Wade

Matt Wade

Chief Technology Officer

Matt is a web systems developer who has gained significant experience in delivery and scaling of technical solutions for both classic and scale-up businesses. Matt has a keen business and strategic ability while maintaining a current knowledge of development technologies, promoting a unique perspective in improving the technical offering for our team.

Steve Jones

Steve Jones

Chief Operating Officer

With experience both as a Business Analyst and Web Developer, Steve oversees all operational aspects of company strategy and helps set strategic goals with a focus on quality management procedures. His team scope and specify future developments, devise test strategies and manage the design to development process through to user acceptance testing.

Neil Gardiner

Neil Gardiner

Chief Commercial Officer

Neil leads our team in exploring and developing our strategic partnerships, both in the UK and internationally. Neil has spent most of his career in the technology sector, working closely with both private and public sector organisations. In this role, Neil brings experience in delivering simple solutions to complex problems, with a strong focus on providing mutual and tangible benefits to all parties.

Sam Watkinson

Sam Watkinson

Investment Director

Sam began his career as a chartered accountant and has since worked in the private equity market, leading on strategic improvement within investee companies, for almost 30 years. As a Head of Investments, he’s advised on more than 15 boards, helping to grow UK entrepreneurial businesses with a social conscience. Focusing on companies within healthcare, education and technology, Sam’s particular expertise lies in finance, recruitment, business growth processes and strategic planning for the future.

Advisory board

John Noble CBE

John Noble CBE

Non-Executive Director

Alongside other non-exec and advisory roles, John provides cyber security assurance for the NHS England board, having led on information and cyber security at NHS Digital before the two merged. John helped establish the UK National Cyber Security Centre and, as its Director of Incident Management, led on nearly 800 major cyber security incidents. John specialised in operational delivery and strategic business change during his 40 years of government service and was awarded a CBE for his work in creating security partnerships for the 2012 London Olympics.

Dr Neil Stanley

Dr Neil Stanley

Advisory Board Member

Neil is an independent sleep expert, involved in sleep research for more than 40 years. He started his career at the Neurosciences Division of the RAF and subsequently became Director of Sleep Research at the University of Surrey. Neil has published 38 peer-review papers and heads up our research team. In addition to his research work, he also delivers lectures and webinars on various aspects of sleep for our NHS and industry partners and members of the public.

Dr Karen Marshall

Dr Karen Marshall

Advisory Board Member

Karen is a nurse consultant with 40 years’ experience in the NHS and is also our Head of CBT. Her interest in CBT, particularly within respiratory care, has seen her complete both a postgraduate diploma and a PhD in the field and develop a CBT intervention for use with people with respiratory problems alongside symptoms of anxiety and depression. She uses her expertise in CBT to deliver lectures and webinars for the NHS and industry both nationally and internationally.

Kevin Paul

Kevin Paul

Advisory Board Member

Kevin is the founder and CEO of Muir Innovation. His latest venture, Muir X, revolutionises hospital ward design, using robotics, smart devices and sustainable materials to deliver flexible spaces that can be adapted for the ever-changing demands of the healthcare industry. With a background in civil and mechanical engineering, Kevin’s expertise focuses on combining cutting-edge technology with a user-centric approach to deliver improved healthcare experiences and outcomes for all.

Key contacts

Collette McKenna

Collette McKenna

NHS Services

Those looking to find out more about our NHS services or to discuss our NHS referral process can contact Collette’s team by telephone or email.

tnu-tr.sleepstation@nhs.net
0333 800 9404

Zoe Richardson

General Enquiries

Those looking for more information on the Sleepstation service can contact Zoe’s team by telephone or email.

support@sleepstation.org.uk
0333 800 9404

Dan Dixon

Dan Dixon

Wellbeing Services

Those looking for more information on our corporate wellbeing services can contact Dan directly by using the contact information provided below.

dan.dixon@sleepstation.org.uk
0333 800 9404

Our offices

Customer services

UK Customer services

Lennox House
Lennox Road
Glasgow
G67 1LL

Service development

UK Head office

The Schoolhouse
12 Trinity Chare
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE1 3DF

Our partners

Sleepstation’s NHS services are delivered in partnership with Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. The Trust is in the top 10% of best performing Trusts in the UK and is rated as Outstanding by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). Sleepstation is part of the Health Innovation Network from the Academic Health Science Network and has been supported by the Social Tech Trust (previously the Nominet Trust) and Innovate UK.

Our charities

Sleepstation is proud to support the homeless charity Crisis. We believe everyone deserves a good night’s sleep. For every course purchased privately, we give £10 to Crisis.

Crisis logo