Staff shortages and lack of data continue to blight England’s NHS and care regulator

England’s regulator of health and adult social care services is understaffed and lacks the information it needs to monitor adult social care or its own performance, the public spending watchdog has said.

It is still not known how efficient or effective the Care Quality Commission is or what the organisation’s effect is on the quality of care, the National Audit office has said in its new report.1

The CQC was set up in 2008 to combine the responsibilities of three existing inspectorates, but it was widely criticised in 2011 and 2012 by various bodies, including the National Audit Office, the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee, and the Department of …