When the Care Quality Commission visits a care provider, they're looking for evidence of safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led care — not just on the day of inspection, but consistently, over time. The best preparation for a CQC inspection is running your service well every day.
Living by our policies
Many providers have excellent policies on paper that don't translate into daily practice. At DeRivian, we work hard to close that gap. Our policies are reviewed regularly, discussed in team meetings, and reflected in the way we train new staff. When a CQC inspector asks a carer about our safeguarding procedure, we want them to be able to answer from genuine understanding — not because they memorised something the night before.
Records are central to CQC inspection. We maintain detailed, contemporaneous care records that are accessible to inspectors, and we audit them regularly ourselves. If a record isn't good enough for a CQC inspector, it isn't good enough for us.
Involving the people we support
CQC inspectors speak directly to clients and families, and those conversations carry enormous weight. We believe the best thing we can do to prepare for those conversations is to make sure the people we support are genuinely happy with their care — and to act quickly when they're not. We run regular satisfaction surveys, hold open feedback sessions, and have a clear, accessible complaints process.
