CQC chief resigns over maternity failings

Sir Julian Hartley, chief executive of 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 investigation into maternity care at Leeds University Hospitals NHS Trust was announced.

Mr Hartley previously chaired the trust for a decade and said that in light of this investigation his role at the CQC had “become incompatible with the important conversations taking place about care in Leeds”.

Some families who received poor maternity care demanded his resignation.

On Monday, Health Secretary Wes Streeting announced an independent investigation into “repeated failures” at the Leeds trust.

Mr Streeting said the inquiry would look at what “went so catastrophically wrong” at the trust's maternity hospitals at both Leeds General Hospital and St James's University Hospital.

He said he was grateful to Sir Julian Hartley for his efforts to improve the Care Quality Commission.

“It is vital that confidence in the regulator and its ratings is restored for patients and staff, and I am confident that the CQC will be the trusted and effective regulator that patients deserve.”

Earlier this year BBC investigation found that the deaths of at least 56 babies and two mothers over the past five years could have been prevented. In a statement responding to the investigation announcement, the foundation said it was “taking significant steps to improve the situation.”

Several families who campaigned for the investigation questioned Mr Hartley's role at CQC as he led the trust for 10 years until 2023.

He was appointed chief executive of the hospitals regulator in December last year after spending 21 months running NHS Provider, the health services trading body.

Amarjeet Kaur and Mandeep Singh Matharu's daughter, Asis, was stillborn in January 2024 – a trust investigation found care issues that may have prevented her death.

They welcomed Mr Hartley's resignation and questioned his original appointment. “The fact that he led Leeds Teaching Hospitals for such a long period of time, where maternity care was poor, should have raised alarm bells within the system to prevent him becoming chief executive of such a large regulator in the first place,” they said.

A foundation whistleblower who expressed concerns about maternity also said they were glad he was gone. “It was terrible for many years, including under his watch. His time as head of the CQC was a scandal, with staff like us complaining to the regulator about unsafe treatments. The situation must change,” she said.

A statement from a wider group of bereaved and affected Leeds families said that while they welcomed his resignation, “we do not accept his apology”. Mr Hartley's role at the CQC, they added, “has always been a scandal hiding in plain sight. Just as the bereaved families had to argue for the complete failure of the CQC in their inspection processes and the lack of regulatory action in Leeds, it now falls to the families again to highlight.”

In a statement, Sir Julian said he “regrets that some families have suffered harm and loss during this time” and pledged to cooperate with the investigation “so families can get the transparency and answers they need and deserve.”

CQC chairman Professor Sir Mike Richards said that while Mr Hartley's resignation was a “huge loss”, he was aware that his previous work in Leeds “could undermine trust and confidence in CQC regulation”.

On Monday, when the investigation was announced, Richards and Wes Streeting said they had confidence in Sir Julian.

A rapid review of maternity services in England is currently underway, with a report due to be published next summer on the largest maternity care study in the history of the NHS, focusing on services at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust.

The Leeds care inquiry is the fifth investigation into maternity services at a single NHS site since 2013.