Once the dreaded communication arrives from the CQC informing you of your inspection date it can spark a number of sleepless nights. What can you do to prepare? How do you know what you’re doing is right? What will the inspectors be looking for?

Prompted by a thread on the Practice Index Forum started by a practice manager preparing for an inspection, here are our top tips to help you through the big day – as supplied by practice managers.

1. Don’t listen to other experiences or gossip as each visit is different.
2. Use the information on the CQC website. Read a few inspection reports as they give a flavour of what to expect. The Q&A’s on the CQC website are also useful.
3. Tidy up your information and paperwork and make it easy to find everything on the day – paper HR folders/all your policies/meeting records/audits etc. need to be to hand.
4. Consider printing paper copies of documents as it saves looking for things on the computer. It’s also easier for the inspectors to read.
5. Try to find out what evidence other practices in your area have been asked for. For example, inspectors recently went through a phase of asking about Duty of Candour policies and they’ve also been known to be hot on HR and recruitment and Warfarin procedures.
6. Double check and cross reference your complaints and SEs to check that you’ve minuted practice meetings where they were discussed and agreed on actions.
7. Make sure you have a pragmatic view of where your practice is in terms of what is good and what the opportunities are. Make sure the whole team are aware of these and all on the same page.
8. Hold a pre-inspection team talk to help raise the profile, but also to support the team with their confidence for the visit day, as the anticipation did feel a little daunting at times for some of them.
9. Meet with your staff a few times before the inspection date to discuss common question areas such as prescribing, registration, home visits, referrals and fire safety – this will pick up any gaps in knowledge and will help ensure everyone is following the same procedures.
10. Ensure training logs are up to date and backed up wherever possible with certificates – particularly for mandatory training – as inspectors can go through them with a fine toothcomb.
11. Ensure your policy for following-up alerts emailed to the practice are in place – this is a common line of enquiry.
12. If it’s not written down, as far as the inspectors are concerned, it hasn’t happened. Document everything to within an inch of its life. Even if it’s things you got wrong, if you documented it, along with what you did to resolve it and stop it happening again, that’s a big tick for you.
13. Inspectors are likely to ask to see a random list of protocols and they can check your Business Continuity Plan.
14. Read through the handy mythbusters section on the CQC website.
15. Welcome the CQC team. Treat them as guests but don’t go OTT. Give them a room to work from and leave them to it.
16. Prepare an information pack, which could largely be taken from the presentation, but with staff names, organisation charts, toilet codes and so on.
17. Get your initial presentation prepped with the GP who is the best presenter. Your presentation is your chance to tell inspectors what you’re good at – they won’t find great practice accidentally so you have to steer them a little bit (and they want you to).
18. Be open and honest in your initial presentation. Talk about the areas that need work as well as the areas you excel at and don’t try to hide anything.
19. Back up your presentation with evidence – inspectors will want to see examples. Show how you are tackling issues/problems and your progress.
20. One practice showed videos of staff going through different things such as policies and protocols, and showing off what they do best. This apparently worked a treat as they felt that they didn’t need to speak to many staff afterwards and only spoke to the senior receptionist and scanning team.
21. Treat the day as a learning experience – the inspectors seem to respond to this. Take on board any advice they give you throughout the day.
22. Read all the stuff you have written or used as policies and know these well. Know your job and your practice!
23. Tighten up on significant events reporting and your risk register, present the staff training matrix and ensure all staff know the safeguarding policy.
24. Think about inviting your PPG chairperson to do a slide or two on the PPG/patient involvement during your presentation – feedback suggests this goes down well. Ensure that person is fully briefed, in case inspectors interview them later.
25. Support the staff before, during and after. No matter how friendly the inspectors might seem, being inspected is a big worry for lots of people and they may need hand holding – even you!
26. Ensure all is clean and your nurses are completely confident with infection control protocol.
27. The inspectors apparently love legionnaire’s disease control at the moment so ensure someone is doing risk assessments that are competent.
28.  Get the staff that will welcome the inspectors to sign them in and give them visitor badges – extra points can be won if their ID is requested.
29. The involvement of health professionals is paramount to the visit as they know what they are doing. The CQC will need to ask them questions about their policies/protocols to ensure they’re up to date, and that all equipment is checked and dated. Evidence of everything they do from cleaning the vaccine fridge to single use items will be covered.
30. Remember that inspectors are human, and providing they don’t find anything dangerous, they will help, assist and advise along the way.
31. Finally, make sure that bottle is chilling in the fridge for when it’s all over!

To join the conversation either comment below or head along to the forum.

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