England's NHS regulator should not be allowed to take on new responsibilities planned under the government's health reforms, according to a damning report by MPs.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) was described as "poorly governed and led" and is not ready for the challenges of the coalition's health bill or to take on the functions of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), according to the public accounts committee.
The CQC has focused on administration whilst neglecting to inspect the level of care and failing to act on information from whistleblowers, MPs concluded.
Plans for the CQC to take over the functions of watchdogs which regulate fertility treatment and human tissue should not go ahead in 2015 as planned, said the cross-party committee.
Margaret Hodge, chair of the committee, said the commission has been struggling for some time while the Department for Health has not got to grips with a failing institution.
"We are far from convinced that the CQC is up to the major challenge of registering and assessing 10,000 GP practices this year.
"Registration will now be decided on the basis of information from GPs themselves and there is a risk that the CQC will simply become a postbox. Unless the assessment of GP practices is meaningful and robust the commission cannot be sure that basic standards of quality and safety are being met," she said.
The DH, which oversees the commission, was criticised for failing to take action quickly.
The report will be a further blow for Andrew Lansley, the health secretary, who inherited a failing commission but wanted it to take a leading role in assessing GP practices and take over the functions of the soon-to-be-abolished HFEA.
The report welcomed the DH's announcement of a "pause" for consultation on the proposed transfer of the responsibilities of the HFEA and the Human Tissue Authority to the commission.
It warned that plans to register 10,000 GP practices between September 2012 and April 2013 may reduce the watchdog to little more than a "postbox" role, as surgeries were being asked to assess for themselves whether they were compliant with quality and safety standards.
The MPs said it was "astonishing" that – almost three years after its creation in 2009 – the CQC had not even developed measures by which to judge quality.
It had carried out "far fewer" inspections than planned and the information it provided to the public on the quality of care was "inadequate and does not engender confidence in the care system", said the report.
There were "serious concerns about the leadership, governance and culture of the commission", which had given incorrect information to Parliament, claiming to have completed twice as many inspections and reviews as it really had.
The committee raised concerns about the commission's use of "gagging clauses" in severance deals with staff, which prevent them from speaking out in public. One former board member said she had been "ostracised and vilified" after challenging the commission's leadership.
The MPs called on the commission to re-establish a dedicated whistleblowers' hotline for staff to report concerns about standards in care homes and hospitals.
However the report has not called for Cynthia Bower, head of the CQC, to stand down from her post before her expected leaving date in the autumn.
Bower resigned last month in expectation of the report and two other major inquiries which are also expected to criticise her and the commission.
The DoH is reviewing how the commission handled the scandal of Winterbourne View, a private hospital near Bristol for people with learning disabilities.
But the most serious criticism of the CQC and Bower is likely to come from a public inquiry into how NHS bodies failed to prevent between 400 and 1,200 patient deaths due to poor care at Stafford hospital.
A CQC spokesman said that the MPs' report had failed to take on board recent improvements in performance, an increase in the number of inspections and a tightening of its whistleblowing policy.
"These improvements were noted in the Performance and Capability Review published by the DoH in February, which referred to CQC's 'considerable' achievements in setting the essential platform from which tougher regulatory action can be taken when needed," he said.
A source close to Lansley said that the failings of the CQC had developed under the last government, but are being dealt with by the current administration. "We are addressing a difficult legacy," he said. The Guardian
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