On this week’s podcast we talk about relationships between CEOs and chairs - and why the CEO of East Kent Hospitals has not been at work since mid-November.

And with staff pride at a record low in the Care Quality Commission, according to its latest internal survey, we cover what will be in the in-tray of its new CEO and why the regulator wants to find someone with “clear political licence”. 

(Update): On Thursday evening, following the recording of this podcast, East Kent Hospitals Trust issued a statement stating Ms Doherty was stepping down so that the organisation could “appoint a chair who can focus exclusively on leading East Kent through the next phase of improvement work ahead.”

Ms Doherty remains chair of Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells Trust and is also the president of the Royal Society of Chemistry.