Preparing for an upcoming CQC inspection

As a SureCare franchisee, you can operate safely in the knowledge that the services you provide are regulated by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

The CQC carries out routine inspections to ensure that our care operations across the country run effectively in safe and suitable environments. These inspections are generally carried out once every 18 months, but this frequency may change depending on the results of previous inspections.

Familiarising yourself with how inspections are carried out and what’s required, you can help the visit to run a lot more smoothly and potentially improve your overall rating.

Know what to expect

Operators will generally receive around 48 hours’ notice before a planned inspection is due to take place. Not only does this allow you the time to ensure a registered manager or senior person in charge is available on the day, but it also gives you a chance to conduct a mini inspection of your own operations.

While it’s extremely unlikely that you’d ever let your daily standards slip at any point, you can utilise this preparation time well to guarantee that everything is up to scratch. It’s also useful to have all useful documentation and paperwork handy, so that your inspectors can easily view the internal policies and procedures holding your operations together.

The CQC generally measures services and operations according to five key lines of enquiry; safety, effectiveness, how caring they are, how well they respond to people’s needs and great leadership. It’s up to providers to demonstrate to CQC inspectors that these five keys areas are addressed prominently in all aspects of service, from internal admin to providing care in the field.

It can feel quite daunting when you know there’s an inspection on the horizon. However, with the support, knowledge and experience of SureCare’s franchising team behind you, any CQC visit should feel very straightforward and yield “Good” or “Outstanding” results.

For information on franchising in the home care sector, get in touch with SureCare today on 01244 321 199 or email enquiries@surecare.co.uk