A Legacy of Putting Patients First: BMJ Editor Tessa Richards Dies at 75

Tessa Richards, the BMJ Associate Editor and tireless patient advocate who fundamentally changed how healthcare professionals, researchers, and medical institutions engage with the people they serve, has died aged 75. She passed away on 10 February 2026 following adrenal cancer, a condition she had battled with remarkable resilience for over two decades.

Richards’ four-decade career at The BMJ—from 1983 to 2023—represents one of the most significant campaigns for patient partnership in modern healthcare. When she arrived at the journal in 1983, patients were largely treated as subjects rather than partners. Medical photographs often showed patients naked, with black bands across their eyes—a practice intended to protect anonymity but widely recognised as inadequate and unnecessarily degrading. Patient voices were absent from editorial decisions, research priorities, and healthcare policy.

By the time Richards retired in 2023, the transformation was complete. The BMJ had appointed a patient editor to its senior leadership team, established a patient advisory board, and recruited over 1,000 patient and public reviewers who now participate in every aspect of the journal’s editorial process. This shift from tokenism to genuine partnership became a blueprint that other medical journals have begun to adopt.

Richards’ commitment to patient partnership was intellectual from the outset, but it became deeply personal in 2003 when she developed adrenal cancer—a rare malignancy. Faced with a prognosis that seemed bleak, she underwent extensive surgery and multiple cycles of treatment, defying expectations by living far longer than initial case studies had suggested possible.

Her experience as a patient proved transformative. She was grateful to the surgical teams whose technical skill and professionalism saved her life. Yet she was deeply troubled by the communication failures she witnessed, particularly in intensive care. Junior doctors introduced themselves rarely, rarely examined her properly, and left her bewildered about her condition and prospects. By contrast, the intensive care nurses provided not just clinical care but genuine human connection—they knew her life story as she knew theirs.

In 2013, Richards wrote about her experience in The BMJ itself, describing the “minimal” communication from doctors and the stark contrast with nursing care. This was not the bitter complaint of an ungrateful patient, but rather a powerful illustration of why partnership matters. She had insider knowledge—she understood both the medical literature and the lived experience of vulnerability.

Long before her cancer diagnosis, Richards had been building the intellectual case for patient partnership. In 1990, she wrote: “Even the briefest spell on the other side of the desk or in a hospital bed gives blinding insight into patients’ vulnerability and of their need to be listened to, treated with respect, and given full, unhurried, jargon-free explanations.”

By 1999, as the NHS itself began grappling with patient involvement, Richards articulated the scope of the revolution she envisioned: “After decades of patriarchal provision of services, governments are now accepting that patients should have a say in what is provided. The medical mindset needs radical readjustment to accept that patients are partners and that their input into medical education, service provision, research, and policy making is essential.”

This was not mere advocacy—Richards backed her arguments with evidence. Research she championed demonstrated that genuine patient partnership improves clinical outcomes, enhances patient safety, increases operational efficiency, and boosts satisfaction among both patients and healthcare staff. Yet despite this evidence, progress remained frustratingly slow, which Richards found both puzzling and motivating.

In 2011, Richards led the development of a formal Patient and Public Partnership Strategy for The BMJ, ensuring that what began as principle became practice. She recognised that good intentions alone would not shift institutional culture; the strategy required dedicated resources, training, governance structures, and accountability.

The results speak for themselves. Patient reviewers now assess research for relevance and accessibility. Patient editors help set the journal’s agenda. Patient voices shape which stories get told and how medical evidence is communicated to the public. This transformation, led by someone with both professional authority and lived experience of illness, has become a model for other institutions across the NHS and beyond.

Key Takeaways

• Tessa Richards transformed The BMJ from an institution where patients were largely absent to one where patient partnership is embedded throughout the editorial process
• Her work demonstrated that patient involvement in healthcare research, policy, and service design improves outcomes, safety, and satisfaction for all stakeholders
• Her personal experience with adrenal cancer deepened her conviction that patient voices must be genuinely heard, not merely consulted

What This Means for Kent Residents

Tessa Richards’ legacy directly affects healthcare across Kent. The principles of patient partnership she championed now inform how NHS services in Kent and Medway—including Kent and Medway NHS Trust—engage patients in decisions about their care and the design of services. Her work supports the expectation that patients should receive full, clear explanations about their conditions and treatment options, and that their experiences should shape how healthcare is delivered. For Kent residents managing chronic conditions like cancer, her decades-long campaign means your voice now matters at every level, from individual consultations to the research that guides treatment decisions. If you have concerns about your care or wish to get involved in NHS service feedback in Kent, local Patient Participation Groups and the NHS England complaints process can help ensure your experience contributes to ongoing improvement.