Monitor and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) need to differentiate their roles to reduce confusion, a report from the Health Select Committee said today (5 March 2013).
Monitor and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) need to differentiate their roles to reduce confusion, a report from the Health Select Committee said today (5 March 2013).
MPs emphasised that problems with the regulators need to be addressed “urgently” to “avoid the twin dangers of gaps in regulation and duplication of regulation.”
At the launch committee chair Stephen Dorrell said the “overlapping remits” should be addressed “quickly”.
“The urgency of this requirement is illustrated by the serious failings in quality and safety that emerged at the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay Foundation Trust after an authorisation process which did not identify significant issues of care quality and patient safety,” he said.
Dr Peter Carter, Royal College of Nursing (RCN) chief executive hopes the report will lead to Monitor and the CQC working “closer together”.
“Monitor has an important role to play in the NHS and we want to see it identifying risks early and preventing issues from spiralling out of control, like at Mid Staffs” he said.
“However, if it is to do this, it must ensure that it is rigorously testing whether Trusts’ financial plans are to the detriment of patient care.”
