Dr Arun Chopra has been appointed as the Care Quality Commission’s (CQC’s) first Chief Inspector of Mental Health.
Arun was previously Medical Director of the Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland (2020-2024) and is one of the most recent recipients of the President’s Medal, awarded annually by the Royal College of Psychiatrists to individuals who have made a significant contribution towards improving the lives of people with mental illness. He recently returned to frontline clinical work as a Consultant Inpatient Psychiatrist at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital.
The creation of the new role of Chief Inspector of Mental Health recognises the crucial importance of mental health services in supporting people to lead fuller, healthier lives, and the need for specialist expertise in regulating these services. It is the first of series of appointments to four CQC Chief Inspector roles leading on regulation and improvement across mental health, hospitals, primary and community care, and adult social care and integrated care - marking a realignment of the organisation around sector expertise.
Commenting on the appointment, Sir Julian Hartley, Chief Executive of CQC, said:
I’m delighted to welcome Arun to CQC as our first Chief Inspector of Mental Health. He has extensive experience of working to improve mental health services for people in Scotland and England and I am confident that he will bring that experience to bear in leading our regulation of mental health services and encouraging improvement.
The recruitment of the Chief Inspectors is a key part of reestablishing CQC’s expertise and is it crucial that mental health is properly represented as part of that process. Arun’s appointment will help shape our regulation of the mental health sector and support the delivery of better care as we continue our journey to becoming the strong effective regulator people need and deserve.
I’d like to thank Chris Dzikiti for the commitment and professionalism he has displayed as mental health lead since starting in the Director of Mental Health role in 2022. Working alongside Arun, Professor Aidan Fowler, Interim Chief Inspector of Healthcare and James Bullion, Interim Chief Inspector of Adult Social Care and Integrated Care, Chris will continue in his role as Interim Executive Director of Operations, providing operations with the executive leadership that is required and fully focused on driving forward the operational delivery of our four immediate actions.
Dr Arun Chopra said:
I’m honoured to have been appointed as the first Chief Inspector of Mental Health and excited about joining CQC at a time of significant change for the organisation.
My professional life has been dedicated to improving care for people who use mental health services; from the delivery of frontline clinical psychiatric care, to my role at the Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland protecting the human rights of people with mental illness, learning disabilities, dementia and related conditions, to my work with mental health law reform for England, Wales and Scotland.
I am absolutely committed to supporting mental health services to provide good, safe person-centred care that helps people to recover – and I look forward to working with people who use services and their families and carers, with providers and with CQC colleagues to do this.
Dr Chopra will take up his role at CQC in May 2025.