Sir David was born and brought up in Blackburn in Lancashire and graduated from Bradford University in 1978. He began his career as a social worker, progressing as a manager in Wakefield, Avon and Cleveland. He was appointed to director of social services posts in Cleveland, Middlesbrough and Greenwich. He was the president of the Association of Director of Social Services in 2002. He was the first chief inspector of the Commission for Social Care Inspection in 2003. In 2006 he was appointed to the Department of Health as the director general for social care, local government and care partnerships working on personalised care, carers,learning and disability policy, mental health policy, the reform of social care funding and legislation. He was a member of the NHS Management Board. From 2012 to 2018 he was chief executive of the Care Quality Commission where he led a team to conduct a fundamental transformation of the quality and safety regulation of health and care in England.In December 2018 Sir David was appointed as chair of the Board of Health Education England.In 2003, he was awarded a CBE for services to social care. In 2004, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in law by Greenwich University. He was presented with a City and Guilds Fellowship in October 2016 and awarded an Honorary Doctorate in health by the University of Bradford in 2017. He was awarded a knighthood for services to health and care in the 2017 New Year's Honours list.
