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Our Chief Inspector of General Practice, Prof Steve Field and our Chief Inspector of Hospitals, Prof Sir Mike Richards, have been recognised in the Health Service Journal's top 100 Clinical Leaders.

The list – decided by an independent panel of experts – celebrates those with clinical backgrounds who are having the greatest impact in driving and influencing high-quality and safe care for patients.

Sir Mike and Prof Field have both made the top five of the annual list.

Since joining CQC last year, both have led the development of our new inspection regimes for their respective sectors. Following extensive consultation, joint development and testing, these new regimes are being rolled out formally this month.

They involve larger and more specialist expert inspection teams who visit and judge services against what matters most to the people who use them – are they safe, caring, effective, responsive to people's needs and well-led.

Also, services are rated on a four-point scale of Outstanding, Good, Requires Improvement and Inadequate, so that the public has clear information that can help them to make informed choices about their care.

Sir Mike has already rated over 40 NHS trusts across England, including Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust as the first Outstanding NHS trust last month. Also, he has rated and the maternity and gynaecology services within Basildon University Hospital and the A&E services within Homerton University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust as Outstanding.

Prof Field rolled out the inspection regime for primary medical services this month, and publisheda report on his new-style inspections of out-of-hours GP services. He has also worked with partners to develop a 'special measures' regime for general practice. This will give practices that are found to provide inadequate care clear deadlines and support to improve.

The HSJ's 100 Clinical Leaders for 2014 were announced at an event in London earlier this week and the full list is available on HSJ's website.