Congratulations to Julian Hartley, formerly of the NHS Improving Quality parish, on getting a real job as chief executive of Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust, where he began work on 14 October.

As if the trust’s challenges – ahem, opportunities – were not sufficient, Mr Hartley received a baptism of fire when, on the very same day, a newly engorged Care Quality Commission inspection team arrived en masse.

Reports that, on being told of the inspectors’ arrival, Mr Hartley believed he was being japed by new colleagues are unconfirmed, but extremely believable.

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