Care Quality Commission must not run the risk of politicisation

The watchdog has been making serious efforts to restore professional confidence, but news that it may appoint a former Conservative party chief executive as its chair is concerning, by Peter Beresford

The Care Quality Commission is the public bulwark against neglect and abuse in health and social care. That’s why the announcement that a Tory MP and former chief executive of the Conservative party, David Prior, is the government’s “preferred candidate” for its chair raises concerns.

It isn’t as though the CQC is currently in a comfortable place, inspiring professional and public confidence. Instead, it has a backlog of major problems and some serious issues of public perception to deal with.

The CQC has got rid of a chief executive and chair who were visibly found wanting. Its performance over the scandal of Winterbourne View was execrable, and this seemed to speak of much wider and more fundamental problems in its approach, resourcing and leadership.

Meanwhile, the Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI), one of the organisations superseded by the CQC, has often appeared a model of how to get regulation right. It had an outstanding record of outreach, user involvement and building its work on the creation of a strong evidence base. Dame Denise Platt, its chair, had a reputation for fighting her corner like a tiger, a rare and crucial attribute in a policy area afforded as little priority as social care.

The CQC has been making serious efforts to get back on track. Its appointment of David Behan as chief executive has been widely welcomed. While his former role as director general of social care might put him too close to government for some tastes, there is no question that he brings authority, expertise and credibility to the role. He was also the first chief inspector of the CSCI, working in close association with Dame Denise.

The CQC has also set in train its own evaluation of its activities, and has included external expert advice and consultation in the process. It was beginning to look as if the CQC and the rest of us could breathe again. Hopefully, lives would once more be safe in its hands.

But this could all be put at risk by an appointment of a chair that carries even the whiff of suspicion that there might be any kind of politicisation, or conflict of interest. We have seen too many instances of this lately, undermining public trust and confidence, in other higher profile public policy fields and institutions.

The whole point of organisations like the CQC is that there is clear water between them and ruling politicians and policymakers. They are another case of Caesar’s wife needing to be seen to be above suspicion.

The health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, has apparently asked the health select committee to hold a public pre-appointment hearing to check out Prior’s suitability for the post. The committee is due to report its findings to Hunt, who will decide whether or not to sign off the appointment.

Unfortunately, whatever helpful skills and experience Prior has, for example, in his role as chair of Norfolk and Norwich University hospitals foundation trust, these are likely to be undermined by his close history with the leading party in the coalition.

More thought and independence of mind must be shown in making this decision than were evident in the earlier decisions regarding top appointments to the commission.

Peter Beresford is professor of social policy at Brunel University and chair of Shaping Our Lives, the national disabled people’s and service users’ organisation and network