Sir Mike Richards appointed England’s chief inspector of hospitals

The UK's national director to reduce premature mortality Sir Mike Richards has been appointed England's first chief inspector of hospitals, according to the Health Service Journal (HSJ).

The UK healthcare publication said Sir Mike will sit in the Care Quality Commission as part of his new role, which was recommended by the Francis report to improve standards of care in hospitals following the failings at Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust.

According to the Department of Health, the chief inspector of hospitals will be 'the nation's whistleblower-in-chief', with duties that include introducing single aggregated ratings for hospitals, as well as ratings for hospital performance at department level.

He will also produce a new set of fundamental standards to make explicit the basic rights that anyone should expect of the NHS and ensure that hospitals are properly recruiting, training and supporting healthcare assistants

Sir Mike has extensive NHS experience, being appointed to his current national director role following 13 years as national cancer director, during which he led the development of the NHS Cancer Plan and the driven the Cancer Reform strategy and the End of Life Care Strategy.

He has also spent time as consultant medical oncologist at Guy's Hospital, specialising in breast cancer, and Sainsbury Professor of Palliative Medicine at St Thomas' Hospital.

Sir Mike was awarded his knighthood in 2010, and among his other achievements, he was awarded Healthcare Communications Advocate at the Communiqué Awards 2011 and the lifetime achievement award at QiC Excellence in Oncology 2012.