What happens during an inspection

If the CQC inspectors visit your service area, what should you do?

As is common practice, please politely check their identification. All CQC staff should be wearing a visitor lanyard with badge showing ‘CQC’ and/or have a letter detailing who they are. This will provide them authorisation to enter and inspect the premises.

The inspectors can spend up to a whole day in your ward or department.

During their visit, they will:

• talk to you as staff, as well as patients, families and carers
• review patient and staff records
• review documentation, for example policies, training records, audits, and patient information.

If the inspectors request to look at patient notes on e-Care (hospital) or SystmOne (community), as well as complementary systems, you will need to show them, but please stay with them while they look.

It’s important that you are open and honest with the inspectors if they talk to you.

If you have any concerns about something you have said to an inspector, please don’t worry, but do let your manager know or email cqc.queries@wsh.nhs.uk.

What will they check when they visit?

Inspectors can review a variety of areas, including:

• Policies and procedures – are they up to date and followed?
• Key performance indicators and national data
• Clinical records
• Cleanliness, equipment and infection control practices such as handwashing between patients
• Incident reports and risk assessments
• Medicine storage
• Professional standards and tidiness of wards and service areas
• How we escalate and communicate issues.

Inspectors will also look at feedback from patients, carers and other key stakeholders, as well as complaints, social media and data from national and local surveys, audits, and waiting times. They will also look at previous inspection information.

Confidentiality and consent

The inspectors will always maintain the confidentiality of any information reviewed during the inspection. Inspectors will ensure the prior consent of patients is sought when necessary.

What happens at the end of the inspection period?

At the end of the visit the assessors will give feedback to senior managers. Additional evidence may be requested during or after the inspection.

Reports are usually published within three months of the inspection. Before it is published the CQC will do quality checks on the inspection report and will then send it to specific individuals at the trust to check it for factual accuracy.

The Trust will be given an overall rating based on visits, feedback and on information given - not just for the core services physically inspected.

Following the inspection, we will be awarded one of the following overall ratings:

• Outstanding – the service is performing exceptionally well
• Good – the service is performing well and meeting CQC expectations
• Requires improvement – the service is not performing as well as it should and the CQC have told the service how it must improve
• Inadequate – the service is performing badly and the CQC have taken action against the organisation that runs it.