Due to political demands and public pressure, the CQC is “clarifying” the way it will now inspect.

It has produced guidance for inspectors about how to carry out inspections (the 12 principles, as mentioned above). Some are more interesting than others, but include guidance on inspection types, how often an inspection will be carried out on a service (yearly or every two years, depending on what you are, and with some caveats, that’s every location you have) and how many outcome areas will be covered in a “standard” inspection.

As Inspections will now be carried out annually (or more often if a concern) the CQC is currently recruiting for Inspectors again. I do not know if they are re-recruiting those they have just made redundant. However, this means that there is also an expectation that there will be an increase in the number of Providers that will be taken through enforcement action.

Furthermore, CQC are now conducting a national pilot on how it carries out its inspections. The pilot inspection will look across all regulated activities carried out at a location. They will focus on key outcomes, mostly related to quality and safety of care, rather than all 16 outcome areas. These visit will still be unannounced.

There is too much to go into here, but all this information will be made available to Compass members for free. For non-members, please call the office on 01325 318028 for further information.