Regulation in primary care.

Professional bodies have long overseen the maintenance of standards of training and practice within the different healthcare professions. Organisational regulation of healthcare in England comprises two main elements: regulation of the quality and safety of care offered by healthcare providers, currently undertaken by the Care Quality Commission (CQC); and regulation of the market in healthcare services, currently the responsibility of Monitor and the Department of Health. The eighth in the series, this article considers the expanding roles of newer bodies, particularly in relation to primary care. The cost-effectiveness of these new arrangements is unknown - and possibly unknowable.