CQC: too big a remit, too little funding? By last year, the Commission had registered 23,000 organisations in 40,000 locations since it was formed, as well as undertaking the normal inspections. Hospitals, dental care services, home-based care services and GP practices are all monitored by the CQC, plus a wide range of secondary and specialist health care services. Also asked to inspect more than 300 abortion clinics at short notice, it was perhaps no surprise that the system would creak beneath the strain. A National Audit Office report in 2011 found that the level of inspections of care homes fell "significantly" after the launch of the new watchdog. The King's Fund commented last year: "The Commission had a troubled beginning, exacerbated by a lack of clarity about its role and a failure to provide the resources needed for it to meet the enormous and complex task it was given. Politicians must bear some of the responsibility for this. It is no good preaching the virtues of light touch regulation and then blaming the regulator for not taking a more interventionist approach when problems emerge. In April Jeremy Hunt, the Health Secretary, said the Commission would be given additional funding to pay for its new inspection regime. Some may well argue it is coming too late.