Persons involved in inspection processes

When a Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection is pending, the following people/groups will usually be involved:

• Nominated Individual – usually the primary point of contact between CQC and the organisation
• Registered Manager – may also be the point of contact, will work with the Nominate Individual to ensure paperwork is provided to CQC
• CQC Inspection Team – the team will comprise inspectors (including a lead inspector) and experts and will be as large as is needed to suitably inspect the organisation (e.g. there could be 2 to over 50 team members)
• Senior Management Team – inspectors will usually speak to the senior management team on arrival at the service
• Staff – inspectors will want to speak to a cross-section of employees
• Service users – inspectors will want to speak to a cross-section of service users and their families

NOTE: Further information about the roles and responsibilities of these people/groups can be found here

Inspections will usually be announced and providers will be given two weeks’ notice of a visit, however, CQC can make unannounced visits. Therefore, it is beneficial to have a culture of inspection readiness within your organisation. This means that your organisation operates at the level required by the inspection process at all times so that when there is an inspection, staff know that they are already working at the expected level. To achieve this, you must have quality control systems in place to monitor operational processes and identify areas where improvements are needed as well as praise staff members for work that is performed well. This can decrease the anxiety and self-doubt that some staff may feel during an inspection.