Sir Robert Anthony Francis KC (born 4 April 1950) is a British barrister. [1] He specialises in medical law, including medical and mental health treatment and capacity issues, clinical negligence and professional discipline. [2] He has appeared as a barrister for and chaired several high-profile inquiries into medical controversies/scandals.
On 21 May 2024, the UK Government announced that Francis had been appointed as the Interim Chair of the Infected Blood Compensation Authority (IBCA). [3]
Robert Francis was educated at Uppingham School, [4] a boys' independent boarding and day school in the market town of Uppingham in Rutland, followed by the University of Exeter, where he qualified as Bachelor of Laws (LL.B) (Hons). [4]
Francis has been a barrister since 1973 and became a Queen's Counsel in 1992. He is a Recorder (part-time Crown Court judge) and authorised to sit as a deputy High Court Judge. He is a governing Bencher of the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, where he has chaired its Education and Training Committee. [5]
He appeared as a barrister in inquiries for various NHS scandals: [5]
He chaired various independent inquiries: [5]
On 27 November 2013, it was announced that he had become the president of the Patients Association. [15]
On 4 June 2014, it was announced that he had become a non-executive board member of the Care Quality Commission. [16]
On 14 June 2014, it was announced that he had been knighted in the 2014 Birthday Honours.
On 24 June 2014, it was announced that he would be chairing an NHS whistleblowing review, the Freedom to Speak Up Review. The report was published on 11 February 2015. [17]
On 19 September 2018, it was announced that he would be the new Chair of Healthwatch England. [18]
On 14 June 2021, it was announced that he would lead a compensation framework study for those impacted by Contaminated Blood. [19]
Monitor was an executive non-departmental public body of the Department of Health, responsible between 2004 and 2016 for ensuring healthcare provision in NHS England was financially effective. It was the sector regulator for health services in England. Its chief executive was Ian Dalton and it was chaired by Dido Harding. Monitor was merged with the NHS Trust Development Authority to form NHS Improvement on 1 April 2016.
Sir David Nicholson is a public policy analyst and NHS Manager who is the Chair of Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust and Chair of Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust. He was previously the Chief Executive of the National Health Service in England. He was appointed in October 2011 following the NHS reforms, having been seventh Chief executive of the NHS within the Department of Health since September 2006. He issued what has become known as the "Nicholson challenge" regarding the finances of the NHS. He retired from the role on 1 April 2014 in the wake of the Stafford Hospital scandal.
The West Midlands Ambulance Service University NHS Foundation Trust (WMAS UNHSFT) is responsible for providing NHS ambulance services within the West Midlands region of England. It is one of ten ambulance trusts providing England with emergency medical services, and is part of the National Health Service.
Criticism of the National Health Service (England) includes issues such as access, waiting lists, healthcare coverage, and various scandals. The National Health Service (NHS) is the publicly funded health care system of England, created under the National Health Service Act 1946 by the post-war Labour government of Clement Attlee. It has come under much criticism, especially during the early 2000s, due to outbreaks of antibiotic resistant infections such as MRSA and Clostridium difficile infection, waiting lists, and medical scandals such as the Alder Hey organs scandal. However, the involvement of the NHS in scandals extends back many years, including over the provision of mental health care in the 1970s and 1980s (ultimately part of the reason for the Mental Health Act 1983), and overspends on hospital newbuilds, including Guy's Hospital Phase III in London in 1985, the cost of which shot up from £29 million to £152 million.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is an executive non-departmental public body of the Department of Health and Social Care of the United Kingdom. It was established in 2009 to regulate and inspect health and social care providers in England.
The Stafford Hospital scandal concerns poor care and high mortality rates amongst patients at the Stafford Hospital, Stafford, England, during the first decade of the 21st century. The hospital was run by the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust, and supervised by the West Midlands Strategic Health Authority. It has been renamed County Hospital. The scandal also resulted in the resignation of NHS Chief Sir David Nicholson in 2013.
The Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust was a NHS foundation trust which managed two hospitals in Staffordshire, England:
County Hospital is an acute hospital with less than 200 inpatient beds, opened in 1983. It is the main hospital in Stafford, England. The hospital is managed by University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust. County Hospital's Accident and Emergency unit is the only such facility in Stafford. Wards at County Hospital are numbered, with the exception of specialist units. The hospital changed its name on 1 November 2014 from Stafford Hospital to County Hospital as part of the dissolution of the Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust.
The Bristol heart scandal occurred in England during the 1990s. At the Bristol Royal Infirmary, babies died at high rates after cardiac surgery. An inquiry found "staff shortages, a lack of leadership, [a] ... unit ... 'simply not up to the task' ... 'an old boy's culture' among doctors, a lax approach to safety, secrecy about doctors' performance and a lack of monitoring by management". The scandal resulted in cardiac surgeons leading efforts to publish more data on the performance of doctors and hospitals.
The Furness General Hospital scandal involves an investigation by Cumbria Constabulary and other government and public bodies into the deaths of several mothers and newborn babies, during the 2000s at Furness General Hospital (FGH) in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England. Cases date back to 2004, with a number of major incidents occurring in 2008. The death of Joshua Titcombe and a suppressed report by the Morecambe Bay NHS Trust brought the spotlight onto FGH in 2011 when investigations began. Claims of medical records being intentionally destroyed alongside the discovery of major wrongdoing on behalf of midwives led to threats of closure to the maternity ward.
Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust (AWP) is an NHS mental health trust providing adult mental health and related services in Wiltshire and the former county of Avon, an area centred on Bristol.
It emerged in late 2012 that Jimmy Savile, a British media personality who had died the previous year, had sexually abused hundreds of people throughout his life, mostly children but some as old as 75, and mostly female. He had been well known in the United Kingdom for his eccentric image and was generally respected for his charitable work, which associated him with the British monarchy and other individuals of personal power.
The Winterbourne View hospital inquiry occurred at Winterbourne View, a private hospital at Hambrook, South Gloucestershire, England, owned and operated by Castlebeck. A Panorama investigation, broadcast on television in 2011, exposed the physical and psychological abuse suffered by people with learning disabilities and challenging behaviour at the hospital.
Cynthia Bower is a former manager in the National Health Service, and the first Chief Executive of the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in the United Kingdom, from which she was forced to resign after the Winterbourne View hospital abuse investigation and a resultant investigation by the Department of Health.
The University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust (UHBW) is a National Health Service foundation trust in Bristol and Weston-super-Mare, England. The trust runs Bristol Royal Infirmary, Bristol Heart Institute, Bristol Royal Hospital for Children, Bristol Eye Hospital, South Bristol Community Hospital, Bristol Haematology and Oncology Centre, St Michael's Hospital, University of Bristol Dental Hospital and, since 1 April 2020, Weston General Hospital.
Action against Medical Accidents (AvMA) is a UK charity for patient safety and justice. It works with people who have been affected by medical accidents. It is based in Surrey.
Healthwatch England is a committee of the Care Quality Commission established under the Health and Social Care Act 2012, which took effect in April 2013. Its role is to gather and champion the views of users of health and social care services, in order to identify improvements and influence providers' plans. The Healthwatch network is made of up of local Healthwatch groups in each of England's local authority areas, and Healthwatch England, the national body.
Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (EPUT) is an NHS foundation trust which provides community health, mental health and learning disability services to approximately 1.3 million people throughout Bedfordshire, Essex, Suffolk and Luton.
QEB Hollis Whiteman is a leading set of barristers' chambers specialising in criminal, financial, and regulatory law, located in the City of London. Established in the 1980s, it employs 70 barristers, including 21 King's Counsel, four Treasury Counsel and one Standing Counsel to the RCPO. The current Heads of Chambers are Selva Ramasamy KC and Adrian Darbishire KC and the Chief Clerk is Chris Emmings.
The National Guardian's Office is an independent, non-statutory body with the remit to lead culture change in the National Health Service in England.