CQC Inspection

Our first ever CQC Inspection

Two weeks ago just as I was taking my lunch break I received the call that I was dreading – it was the call about our first inspection with Care Quality Commission!

The CQC are the organisation that check whether companies that work within the care industry are meeting the national standards. We had a meeting with the CQC when we registered, that was for us to show the CQC how we were planning on running our home care company and for them to pass us as being suitable to run a home care company. This inspection was them coming to see us to check we were running the way we said we would and if we were meeting the standards that all companies need to meet nationally. This would prove whether all the hard work over the last 9 months had paid off!

The inspector told me she would be with us the next morning and that she would want to see that our paperwork was up to date and would also want to speak to some of our care workers and some of our clients. I spent the rest of the day making sure that all the paperwork was as it should be and getting together the information she had asked for. Then I spent a sleepless night worrying about how the inspection would go.

The next day came and so did the inspector. She was very friendly and I felt more relaxed once I had met her. She checked that our files with staff information was up to date and that we had followed all of the procedures when it comes to employing staff in the home care industry. She then looked at our files on our clients, checking that we had the information that we needed to be able to deliver the care that is needed for our clients. She looked at our care plans to make sure they were person centred. She was very pleased with what she saw, and in fact was very excited about how detailed our care plans were. It was great to hear such positive feedback about the work that we were doing.

Her final checks were to talk to our staff and clients. She chose the ones that she wanted to speak to and I had to arrange for her to have telephone interviews with her the following week. I still don’t know the outcome of those interviews other that she said all was ok. We have to wait for the report to come out to see the final verdict from our inspection. So watch this space the next blog will be the results……