11 January 2008
Healthcare Commission chair Sir Ian Kennedy has hit out at plans to merge his organisation with two other regulatory bodies, warning MPs that the move could 'set back development of a culture of safety'.
The proposed merger with the Commission for Social Care Inspection and the Mental Health Act Commission to create a new body – the Care Quality Commission – is the central plank of the Health and Social Care Bill now before Parliament.
At a hearing of the Commons public Bill committee debating the legislation on January 8, Kennedy attacked the 'cost and distraction' that reorganising the regulatory bodies would bring.
He cited government figures putting the cost at £140m. 'But the far greater cost will, in our view, fall on patients and those who care for them,' he told the MPs.
The commission had generated a momentum in the drive for better quality services, he said, but this would 'be lost' as staff became distracted by reorganisation and the new body deliberated on its future role. Good members of staff were already leaving, he added.
Kennedy told the committee: 'All of this sits uncomfortably with an urgent desire for stronger regulation and safer health care.' The rationale for the Bill remained 'at best unclear', he said.
He also warned that proposed powers for the new commission to shut down failing hospitals were inappropriate. 'No regulator should contemplate as a solution to the needs of patients and staff, the immediate closing down of some NHS service,' he said.
The CSCI and the MHAC have been more muted in their response to the plans. The CSCI said it regretted the timing, while the MHAC saw some advantages but feared that the monitoring of mental health legislation might not be given enough priority.
Outside the watchdog bodies, the response has also been mixed. A Local Government Association spokesman welcomed the streamlining of the regulatory system as a 'necessary step', arguing that 'excessive inspections have often diverted funds from frontline services'.
The British Medical Association has also acknowledged the potential advantages of the rationalisation, but is concerned at the effect of yet another reorganisation.
PFjan2008
