Ignoring her school’s advice that “you’ll never make a nurse”, in 1967 Elizabeth Fradd applied to train at Westminster hospital in London. Graduating top of her class, Fradd, who has died aged 75, rose to the height of the profession, becoming assistant chief nursing officer for England (1999-2000), and made key improvements in children’s and community care.
Appalled by the case of Beverley Allitt, the nurse convicted in 1993 of murdering four babies and attempting to murder or seriously harm another nine, in 2000 Fradd helped set up the Commission for Health Improvement (now the Care Quality Commission) to investigate major system failures in hospitals, and then became its lead director for review and inspection.
