Professor Sir Ian Kennedy has been chairman of the Commission for Healthcare Audit and Inspection since 2004. He says: “It is a hugely demanding and intellectually challenging task in a climate where the Government is trying to rethink how to provide an efficient public service and also ensure that these services are responsive to the needs of the public.” He believes that everything begins with the needs of the patient. The controversial 1980 Reith lecturer and author of books on medical law and ethics says that nowadays he writes a huge number of internal papers outlining policy but has no time “to write in the form of the old fashioned academic books that I used to. I wish I had.” He says that his wife usually surprises him by ignoring his birthday completely, but this year she has indicated that she has something special in mind. Professor Sir Ian Kennedy is 65 today. RGT
Lord Dean of Harptree, a Deputy Speaker in the House of Lords, 82; Martyn Hill, tenor, 62; Air Marshal Sir Frederick Sowrey, director-general of RAF Training, 1975-77, 84; Ray Wilkins, football coach and soccer pundit, 50; Lord Willoughby de Broke, chairman, S. M. Theatre Company, 68; Martin Wyld, chief restorer at the National Gallery, 62.