The National Health Service lacks the leadership and commissioning skills to implement the government’s plans for high-quality care in the NHS, a cross-party committee of MPs warned ­on Monday.

Despite a programme called “world-class commissioning” aimed at boosting the ability of primary care trusts to buy care for their patients, “there are few signs yet” that wide variations in how well PCTs commission care have been addressed. “We doubt that most are currently capable of doing this task successfully,” the Commons health committee said.