Set up by the  2012 Health and Social Care Act , it is the regulator of quality and patient safety.

It is responsible for checking whether hospitals, care homes, GPs, dentists and domiciliary services are meeting national standards. It is headed by David Prior a former Tory MP and deputy chairman of the Conservative Party who in 2014 used a private provider for a hip operation to bypass NHS waiting times. He also floated the idea of bringing in operators of foreign hospital chains to turn around failing NHS organisations.

The CQC has itself been mired in scandal after failing multiple times to spot poor quality care, most significantly at  Mid Staffordshire Hospitals  and at thousands of privately run care homes (See  Long-term Care  and  Priory Group ).