Inspection

CQC inspection questions and the evidence to have ready

Assessors are not trying to catch you out with obscure regulations. They ask straightforward questions and then check whether the answer matches the records, the staff and the people using the service. This is what they ask, and what to have to hand.

Questions about safety

Tell me about your most recent safeguarding concern — what did you do, who did you tell, and when did you notify CQC?
How do you assess and manage risk without restricting people unnecessarily?
How do you know your medicines are administered safely? Show me your last audit and what changed.
What is your process when a person has a fall, and how do you look for patterns across the service?
How do you calculate safe staffing, and what do you do when a shift cannot be covered?
How do you learn from incidents and near misses, and how do staff hear about that learning?

Questions about effectiveness and consent

How do you assess needs before a package starts, and who is involved?
Show me how a care plan changed after someone's needs changed.
Talk me through a mental capacity assessment you completed and the best interests decision that followed.
Are there any restrictions in place, and are they lawfully authorised — DoLS, Court of Protection, or a lawful decision under the Mental Capacity Act 2005?
How do you work with GPs, district nurses, dietitians and hospital teams, and how do you evidence that?
What outcomes are you tracking, and are they improving?

Questions about care, responsiveness and people's experience

How do you know what matters to each person, not just what they need help with?
How do people and families raise concerns, and what happened to the last three?
How do you support people to keep their independence, choice and control?
How do you provide information in a way people can understand, in line with the Accessible Information Standard?
What are you doing about equity of access and outcomes for people who may be disadvantaged?
How do you plan for the future, including end of life wishes?

Questions about leadership and governance

What are your service's three biggest risks right now, and what are you doing about each?
Show me your audit schedule and prove an action was closed and re-checked.
How do staff raise concerns, and what happened the last time someone did?
How do you support staff wellbeing, development and progression, and what is your turnover?
How do you know your service is improving, rather than just busy?
What does your own self-assessment against the quality statements say, and where do you rate yourself lowest?

Have this pack ready at all times

Current statement of purpose, registration certificate and displayed ratings.
Care plans and risk assessments for a spread of people, reviewed and signed.
MAR charts, medicines audits, and competency assessments for staff who administer.
Rotas for the last month, plus your dependency or staffing calculation.
Personnel files: application, references, DBS with date, right to work, induction and Care Certificate progress.
Training matrix, supervision and appraisal records, and spot check records.
Complaints, incidents, accidents, safeguarding and notifications logs, each with outcomes.
Audit schedule with completed audits, actions, owners and closure dates.
Feedback from people, families, staff and partners, with a 'you said, we did' summary.
Your self-assessment against the quality statements and current improvement plan.

How to prepare the team

The most common cause of a poor outcome is not missing paperwork — it is staff who cannot describe in their own words what they would do. Run short, informal rehearsals: ask two care staff a safeguarding question each week, and check the answer names a person and a timescale.

Brief everyone on the basics: who the registered manager is, how to raise a concern, where the care plans are, and that it is fine to say 'I don't know, I would ask'. Confidence beats a script.

Common questions

What questions do CQC ask registered managers?

Expect questions that test whether your systems are real: how you know your staffing is safe, what your last medicines audit found and what you did about it, how you assess capacity and make best interests decisions, what you must notify CQC about, how you handled a recent complaint or safeguarding concern, and how you would evidence each quality statement.

Does CQC still give notice of inspections?

It varies. Community services such as home care are usually given short notice so that the assessor can arrange to speak to people using the service, while care home inspections are often unannounced. Assessment activity can also happen off site — requests for information, staff and relative surveys and calls — without anyone visiting at all.

What documents does CQC ask for?

Commonly: your statement of purpose, care plans and risk assessments, MAR charts and medicines audits, staff rotas, personnel files with DBS and reference evidence, training and supervision records, complaints and incident logs, safeguarding referrals, audit schedules with actions closed, and your own self-assessment or improvement plan.

What do CQC ask staff?

Assessors ask front-line staff simple, telling questions: what would you do if you suspected abuse, who would you speak to if you were worried and nothing was done, how do you know what a person likes and wants, when did you last have supervision, and do you have enough time to deliver the care in the plan. Inconsistent answers between managers and staff are what drive findings.

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