Richard Hatchett, visiting professor at the University of Surrey, is a registered nurse who specialised in intensive care and cardiac nursing​. He was one of a small group of nurses involved in setting up and opening, in 1998, the Heart Hospital, now University College Hospital at Westmoreland Street, London. He has had a long career in higher education as a principal lecturer before working as the deputy head of school at the Royal Marsden Hospital, London, and head of education and standards at the Nursing and Midwifery Council. He has published widely and edited two editions of Cardiac Nursing: A Comprehensive Guide, with David Thompson, and Nurse-led Clinics: Practice Issues. He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in nursing and a doctorate in social history. He recently qualified as a psychodynamic counsellor.