The CQC has responded to the Public Account Committee’s report out on its performance as the country’s regulator of health and adult social care. 

The report acknowledges that since 2012, CQC has made “substantial progress” in strengthening the way it monitors, inspects and regulates hospitals, care homes, general practices and other services to make sure that people get safe, high-quality and compassionate care. 

However, the report did highlight areas for improvement including the timeliness of the CQC inspection reports, their ongoing recruitment drive, how the organisation responds to information of concern, and finally their readiness to take on the new responsibility of assessing the use of resources within NHS trusts from April 2016.

Speaking about the report David Behan, Chief Executive of the Care Quality Commission said: "We are pleased that the Public Accounts Committee has acknowledged the “substantial progress” that the organisation has made over the last three years and we have continued to make progress.

"We have always maintained that there is more we have to do, in particular with regards to improving the timeliness of our reports and inspecting all health and adult social care services. These are not new issues and we have been working hard to improve our performance. We have reported on our progress in public every month and we will continue to do so. What is essential is that we do not take any shortcuts, which could compromise the quality of the important work that we do.

"We have surveyed the public and they tell us they are increasingly confident in our new and more rigorous approach to inspection that provides them with better information about the quality and safety of care.

"We are not complacent and are working confidently to continue to improve what we do and how we do it. We look forward to reporting to the PAC in the summer on the progress we have made."