Insights
Notes on clinical governance, evidence trails, and what CQC actually looks at.
Written for owners and registered managers of small independent providers. No filler. No SEO-bait. The bones of what an ex-CQC inspector actually saw working and not working inside the regulator.
Article · 2026
Good Care Is a Leadership Decision: Governance, Culture and Keeping Good People
People don't fail care; systems fail people. An ex-CQC inspector on the governance and culture that let good people do good work, and stay.
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Article · 2026
CQC New Assessment Framework Pilots 2026: What Providers Should Do
CQC is piloting its new assessment approach from June to October 2026. What has been announced, whether to volunteer, and what to prepare while the pilots are running.
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Article · 2026
Why most providers fail Reg 17, and how to evidence good governance
Regulation 17 is the regulation CQC ratings hinge on more than any other, and most providers misread what they need to evidence. The five patterns that produce a Reg 17 finding, and what "good" actually looks like on the page.
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Article · 2026
What CQC inspectors actually look for in incident records
Inspectors pull five incidents at random and walk each one end to end. What we were actually reading, why the closure paragraph mattered more than the opening, and the four patterns that decided the rating.
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Article · 2026
The well-led question, from the inspector's chair
Well-led decides the rating more often than any other CQC key question, but providers misread what the inspector is actually asking. How we decided whether a service was well-led, and what we read for in the records.
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Article · 2026
The GP who hid from me
Thirteen years of CQC inspections taught me one thing about fear of inspection: it is almost never about the service being in the wrong. It is about nobody telling the team what to expect.
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Article · 2026
What the Health and Care Act 2022 cosmetic licensing scheme means for aesthetic practitioners
The scheme has been consulted on but not commenced. What is likely to be in scope, what providers should be doing now, and what regulatory commencement actually feels like from the practitioner side, drawing on dental in 2011 and GP practices in 2013.
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Article · 2026
The CQC registered manager interview: what to expect and how to prepare
What the CQC registered manager interview is really assessing, what areas the conversation covers, common mistakes and how to prepare.
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Article · 2026
How to become a registered manager: qualifications, training, and the application
How to become a CQC registered manager, including qualification routes, sector differences, the training and courses you need, and the application process.
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Article · 2026
What a registered manager actually does (and what CQC expects of you)
What a CQC registered manager does, what CQC expects, how the role differs from a normal job title and where the accountability sits.
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Last reviewed 30 May 2026