Sir Julian Hartley, Chief Executive the Care Quality Commission which is the independent regulator of all health and adult social care services in England, has resigned. The announcement comes just days after an independent inquiry into maternity care at the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust was announced.Mr Hartley had previously spent a decade leading the trust and said that in light of that inquiry, his role at the CQC, “has become incompatible with the important conversations happening about care at Leeds.”Some of the families who received poor maternity care had demanded his resignation.On Monday, the Health Secretary Wes Streeting announced an independent inquiry into “repeated failures” at the Leeds trust. Mr Streeting said the investigation would examine what had “gone so catastrophically wrong” at the trust’s maternity services at both Leeds General Infirmary and St James’ University Hospital. Earlier this year, a BBC investigation revealed the deaths of at least 56 babies and two mothers over the past five years may have been prevented. In a statement reacting to the inquiry’s announcement, the trust said it was “taking significant steps to address improvements.”Several of the families who had campaigned for the inquiry had questioned Mr Hartley’s role at the CQC given he had led the trust for 10 years, until 2023. He was appointed chief executive of the hospital regulator last December having spent 21 months leading NHS Providers, a health service trade body.Amarjit Kaur and Mandip Singh Matharoo’s daughter Asees was stillborn in January 2024 – a trust investigation found care issues which may have prevented her death. They welcomed Mr Hartley’s resignation and questioned his original appointment. “The fact that he was he …
