Table I

Organisation of CQC hospital inspections

RatingsService areasTypical site visit
Domains:
Safety
Effectiveness
Caring
Responsiveness
Leadership
Children and young people
Maternity and gynaecology
Urgent and emergency services
Large team
Sub-teams of 3-5 inspectors rate performance for each service area with regard to each domain. Sub-team membership:
 Led by an experienced inspector employed by CQC
 A doctor, a nurse and a manager with experience of the area
 Patient advocate (“expert by experience”), trainee doctor or nurse in some sub-teams
Categories:
Inadequate
Requires improvement
Good
Outstanding
Outpatients and diagnostic imaging
Surgery
Medical care, including older people’s care
Critical care
End of life care
Typically 1-2 days inspection per hospital site. Announced in advance
Investigate pertinent issues (“key lines of enquiry”), drawing on a generic list and statistics provided by CQC
Twice daily “corroboration” discussion of likely ratings – within the sub-team and across the whole team
Optional unannounced follow-up visit within 3 weeks to gather further data

Source: Adapted from Table I in Boyd et al. (2016) 

or Create an Account

Close Modal
Close Modal