I have been "CHI'd" and I can't say that I enjoyed it. The Commission for Health Improvement is to NHS trusts what Ofsted is to schools, and it has just inspected the primary care trust (PCT) of which I am a non-executive director.

My interview lasted for half an hour, and was conducted by a non-exec from another PCT, a GP and an observer. It was amicable, but they meant business. Several times I was asked if I knew what patients thought of the service. I vainly waved a copy of the CHI's own survey of patients, which I had copied off their website and which I thought was bound to score brownie points. It did not impress.

At the end came the ritual question: "Is there anything else you want to tell us?" The phrase "before we pass sentence" never followed, but I knew it was what they were thinking.

I think I failed to prepare myself thoroughly. This was partly because I have been quizzed several times recently. Not long ago it was by the Audit Commission, and as chair of the trust's audit committee, I had a lengthy grilling. A little while before that, the social services inspectorate had inquired into progress on the older persons' national service framework, for which I am the lead non-exec.

These inspections are very demanding of staff time. Last autumn, our chief executive sent an email to our strategic health authority headed: Inspection Overload. He had received notiÞcation from the Audit Commission of a 10-day visit, just when he was starting the CHI inspection and when he was about to be inspected by the IWL (improving working lives) accreditation body.

Peat (patient environment action teams) were also inspecting our two community hospitals for cleanliness, while the former community health council was monitoring treatments. On top of this, our chief executive had to produce a plan detailing how we were going to improve our one-star status, a business plan, a health improvement plan, an estates strategy, a nursing strategy and other responses to central demands.

Seeing this email, I asked how many organisations inspected or made demands on PCTs. I was shown a list of 32 bodies. This was something of a shock, although it did provide me with an easy way to break the ice at NHS gatherings: "How many agencies does it take to inspect a PCT?"

This list is a good indication of the "challenge" (NHS euphemism for "hopeless task") that PCTs face. It shows the diverse areas they cover and the wide-ranging standards they are expected to meet. In fact, this multitude can be broken down into four broad areas: Þnance, clinical effectiveness, resources and professional accreditation. It ought to be possible to rationalise them.

The government knows about this list, and I believe ministers are convening a working party to ponder what might be done to simplify things. A large step towards simpliÞcation was meant to be taken by the creation of the Commission for Healthcare Audit and Inspection, due to be set up from April.

This new body is intended to carry out some of the current health activities of the Audit Commission and all those of the CHI. Although the dust has not settled on this reorganisation, I am told it is unlikely to signiÞcantly reduce the number of inspections because it is proving difÞcult to merge tasks.

I have much experience of inspecting and being inspected. I was once in charge of alcoholic drinks at the Ministry of Agriculture, which involved overseeing a wine inspectorate. Later, I was responsible for egg inspectors in the ministry.

I am now a school governor, and therefore see Ofsted at Þrst hand, and I am on the management committee of a care home, which is regularly inspected. Most inspections do not turn up much, but have to be carried out to Þnd the small percentage of failing bodies. What is needed is a system of inspections that minimises the burden on the majority of effective PCTs, hospitals and schools, etc.

It should be possible to reduce the number of agencies that carry out inspections. The CHI is very thorough - a team of 14 people crawled over my PCT - and its Þndings should be used by other agencies with allied responsibilities. Many agencies need not carry out inspections.

Let us hope that the government's working party can persuade the agencies on the list of 32 to cut the number of their inspections by relying on the work of others. From past experience, this will require some determined action, but PCTs desperately need some relief.

· Geoffrey Hollis is a non-executive director of the Welwyn Hatfield primary care trust

For more on the Commission for Health Improvement: www.chi.nhs.uk