Today saw the launch of the new Care Quality Commission tasked with joining up the regulation of health and social care.
Speaking at the launch of the new CQC, its chief executive Cynthia Bower acknowledged there were "pinch points" in areas such as hospital discharge arrangements with cases of patients being discharged from hospital without support, often resulting in readmission.
However, Ms Bower said the new body would lead to improvements, promising audits that look into how the NHS and social care systems are working together.
"CQC will join up the regulation of health and adult social care across the public and independent sectors for the first time. The public wants good quality of care wherever it is provided and wants care that is joined up. Particularly as the population ages, the care people receive spans sectors and they should have assurance that, no matter where their care is delivered, the services are operating to the same essential common quality standards," said Ms Bower.
Today, also marks the start of a number of government initiatives including patient feedback on operations and the start of the new NHS and Social care complaints system. The patient feedback system will mean patients will be asked to assess how successful they felt their procedure was and whether they were satisfied with the outcome.
Health Minister Lord Ara Darzi said: "Today is a landmark day in the history of the NHS.
"Listening to patients' concerns and their views on the success of their treatment, as well as measuring and rewarding quality across the NHS will help improve services and assist staff and patients to make better informed choices about their care."