Assessing quality and performance

With our new assessment framework we can be more agile and responsive.

The way we engage with the services we assess will evolve as we use our new approach.

Our assessment teams

The roles in our teams have changed. The following are the roles that are most likely to contact your service.

Regulatory co-ordinator

The regulatory co-ordinator works across sectors. They will be the main point of contact for any general enquiries you have for our assessment team. They are also responsible for:

• Engaging with local groups such as Healthwatch, patient advocacy and participation groups or voluntary and community organisations
• Supporting the assessor and inspector in triaging, assessment planning and evidence gathering
• Making sure our records reflect an up-to-date position on risk and activities for your service.

Assessor

The assessor will be a specialist in your sector. They are responsible for:

• Reviewing data about your service
• Reviewing information and notifications we have received related to your service
• Deciding when to assess your service, what we will look at and who will take part
• Carrying out off-site assessment activities
• Agreeing scores with the inspector and writing parts of the report
• Handling factual accuracy checks for your report with the inspector
• Publishing your scores and report.

Inspector

The inspector will be a specialist in your sector. They are responsible for:

• Working with the assessor to monitor the risks for your service
• Planning and carrying out the on-site activities of your assessment
• Agreeing scores with the assessor and writing parts of the report
• Handling factual accuracy checks for your report with the assessor
• Taking enforcement action.

Operations manager

The operations manager works across sectors and is responsible for:

• Managing the assessment team responsible for assessing your service
• Having oversight of risk and systems issues in the local area
• Taking some decisions about enforcement action

How we will engage with different sectors

The following arrangements set out our relationship with locations at a local level. Where there has been engagement at a corporate or brand level this will continue.

Adult social care

We will not continue our relationship management approach at the level of each location. Instead, our engagement with your service will be through our ongoing assessment work.

You can contact us through this website or by calling us and the information will be shared with the assessment team.

We are not making any changes to the way we engage with large providers of adult social care services through our market oversight work.

Our engagement with providers that are not included in market oversight will remain responsive and risk based. 

Primary medical services

We will not continue our relationship management approach at the level of each location. Instead, our engagement with your service will be through our ongoing assessment work.

You can contact us through this website or by calling us and the information will be shared with the assessment team.

NHS trusts and community interest companies (CICs)

We will continue to hold engagement meetings with NHS trusts and CICs at the provider level. These meetings should:

• Be held quarterly
• Be led by our assessors, operations managers or senior specialists as determined by risk
• Include an executive board member from the trust or CIC.

One meeting a year should also include a deputy director from CQC and the chief executive of the trust or CIC.

For NHS trusts, CQC’s Medicines team will also hold structured conversations with medicines optimisation leaders each year. We will use information from these conversations about risk to inform our regulatory decisions.

Independent healthcare services

We will not continue our relationship management approach at location level except where we think there is significant risk of poor care.

Instead, our engagement with your service will be through our ongoing assessment work.

You can contact us through this website or by calling us and the information will be shared with the assessment team.

We are not making any changes to our current arrangements for the oversight of national, independent providers of mental health services.