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To the anonymous poster who said "drat i should have applied", Its a shame in our now post francis candid, whistleblowing and transparent NHS that you don't feel able to say who you are when commenting.

As for your comment, Mike Richards has been for many years a massively effective operator at a senior level in the DH who has done a huge amount to improve end of life care and the care for people with cancer. I don't know anyone who has worked with him who has a bad word to say about him and he has instant credibility.

Does he have a background in regulation or inspection or policing? No. But then nor does the chief inspector of schools, nor have several very effective chief inspectors of prisons, nor have many of those who run other national regulators. And the CQC until the recent change of leadership (David Behan is an excellent appointment who has just the right skills and background) hadn't been notably succesful so i am not sure that previous form with them was a guarantee of competence.

What we need in a chief inspector more than anything else is someone steeped in healthcare, who understands the needs of patients and alsthe pressures on frontline clinicians. Sir Mike has that.

I think the bigger story is why so many people have either left NHS England early (Richard Gleave and Mike Richards were two of the five domain leads and both have gone, as have Easton and Dalton) or decided not to move to it (many of the former DH tsars - myself included, didn't apply for their old jobs in the new structure) - because they realise what a challenging ennvironment and time it might be. A better target for criticism might be how many senior leaders in NHS England (no longer called the "commissioning board") have commissioning experience

David Oliver