CQC Inspection Checklists & Templates
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Streamline your Compliance with CQC Inspection Checklists
In response the rollout of the Single Assessment Framework, GoAudits partnered with care industry experts to develop a comprehensive CQC compliance tool. Our CQC inspection checklists are effective tools for care homes to ensure compliance with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) standards.
These checklists are in line with the latest CQC communications as of early 2025.
What’s Included in the CQC Compliance Checklists?
Our tool comprises 5 CQC mock inspection templates, each addressing one of the key CQC standards: Safe, Effective, Caring, Responsive and Well-Led.
This tool is designed to help care homes:
- structure and conduct internal audits to ensure compliance with the latest requirements,
- familiarise staff with the new single assessment framework approach,
- identify gaps for improvement,
- record and provide evidence of good practices and continuous improvement processes.
By integrating these tools into your processes, your care home can achieve the best possible rating during the next CQC visit.
Digitise your Internal Audits
- Capture photos as proof of compliance or areas needing attention.
- Instantly generate and share detailed reports after the inspections.
- Assign & track follow-up tasks, view historical trends on a centralised dashboard. Improve quality, safety & compliance.
5 CQC Mock Inspection Templates
Maintaining compliance under the new CQC Single Assessment Framework (SAF) can be challenging for many care homes. With frequent updates to regulations and the evolving nature of care standards, ensuring you meet the requirements can feel like a daunting task.
To support care homes, we’ve collaborated with care industry experts to create a comprehensive toolkit of CQC compliance checklists. This toolkit includes five essential checklists, each aligned with one of the five key areas: Safe, Effective, Caring, Responsive, and Well-led. They are tailored to help you assess your service’s performance against the core areas of care and ensure you’re meeting the CQC’s expectations.
CQC Compliance Checklist – Safe
Care homes can use this ‘safe’ CQC checklist to ensure they meet CQC standards for safety while protecting their residents and staff. It focuses on safeguarding residents and ensuring safe care delivery. It prompts care homes to demonstrate evidence of systems that manage risks, maintain safe environments, and ensure staff are suitably qualified and supported.
For example, under safe systems of recruitment, care homes can verify hiring processes, while under medication optimisation, they can showcase how medications are appropriately managed, reviewed, and tailored to residents’ needs.
It supports care homes in demonstrating their commitment to safety by requiring:
- Evidence of safeguarding policies and how concerns are swiftly addressed.
- infection prevention and control measures, ensuring effective policies to manage and mitigate infection risks.
- A learning culture, where safety events are investigated, lessons are implemented, and staff feel empowered to report safety concerns.
- Well-maintained environments and equipment that meet safety standards, creating secure living spaces for residents.
- Adequate staffing levels with trained and supported personnel to meet residents’ needs around the clock.
Addressing these elements can help care homes ensure a comprehensive and proactive approach to safety.
CQC Compliance Checklist – Effective
The CQC checklist for the ‘effective’ key area enables care homes to showcase how they provide evidence-based, person-centred care that meets residents’ needs while aligning with CQC standards. It supports care homes in documenting their processes in critical areas such as care planning, health promotion, and teamwork.
Key areas include:
- Assessing and reviewing care plans to ensure residents’ needs are met effectively.
- Promoting health and independence through personalised approaches and collaboration across teams.
- Documenting consent practices under the Mental Capacity Act and ensuring effective feedback mechanisms are in place.
- Monitoring outcomes to drive continuous improvement in care quality.
By using this CQC compliance checklist, care homes can provide structured evidence, such as care planning records, clinical documentation, nutritional plans, and audit outcomes, to demonstrate compliance with legislation and best practices. It also promotes efficient teamwork and staff training, helping care homes ensure consistent and effective service delivery.
CQC Compliance Checklist – Caring
The ‘caring’ CQC template ensures that care homes can demonstrate how they provide compassionate, respectful, and individualised care. It helps care homes focus on the treatment of residents, their involvement in care planning, and the overall well-being of both residents and staff.
Key aspects include:
- Evidence of kindness, compassion, and dignity in care through feedback systems such as surveys and interviews.
- Ensuring residents feel respected, valued, and actively involved in care planning. Care plans should reflect residents’ unique needs, backgrounds, and preferences.
- Supporting independence, choice, and control in care decisions.
- Responding promptly to residents’ needs and minimising discomfort or distress.
Additionally, this CQC compliance checklist emphasises the importance of staff well-being. Care homes can ensure a supported and motivated workforce and contribute to higher-quality care by verifying staff training, recruitment practices, and HR policies.
CQC Compliance Checklist – Responsive
The ‘responsive’ CQC compliance checklist equips care homes to demonstrate how they meet residents’ individual needs and preferences through person-centred care and adaptability. It highlights the importance of responding effectively to feedback and ensuring care delivery reflects the unique needs of each individual.
Areas this checklist include:
- Evidence of person-centred care practices in care records, staff training logs, and action plans.
- Use of technology and digital solutions to enhance care outcomes.
- Processes for managing and resolving complaints swiftly and effectively.
- Ensuring inclusion in the local community and providing meaningful, accessible information for residents.
It also requires evidence of equitable access to care and support, such as end-of-life planning and regular reviews to ensure evolving needs are met. Care homes can use this CQC template to illustrate how they actively listen to residents, involve them in decision-making, and plan for their futures.
CQC Compliance Checklist – Well Led
The ‘well-led’ CQC visit checklist supports care homes in demonstrating effective leadership, governance, and sustainability. It helps care homes prove their commitment to high standards of leadership and organisational resilience.
Key evidence this checklist focuses on:
- Policies and procedures that align with the care home’s mission and values, with regular reviews and staff engagement.
- Safe recruitment practices, succession planning, and staff support systems that foster a capable and confident workforce.
- Compliance with the Equality Act 2010, including reasonable adjustments for staff and residents.
- Sustainable practices, such as energy efficiency and waste recycling.
- Collaboration with external partners, such as health professionals and community organisations.
- Governance processes that ensure transparency, equity, and a culture of continuous improvement.
- Demonstrating leadership integrity and fostering an environment where people feel empowered to speak up.
Eventually, care homes can showcase their dedication to creating a well-led, innovative, and sustainable service that delivers exceptional care.
Other Popular Care Audit Templates:
👉 In addition to these 5 CQC compliance checklists, we have worked with industry experts to develop a comprehensive care home audit schedule with 30+ weekly, monthly or quarterly audits.
These cover critical aspects like patient safety, infection control, and overall compliance. You can use these checklists to monitor and assess all other aspects of care, ensuring that no area is overlooked.
Sign up now to access the full Care Home Audit Schedule.
Why Should Care Homes use CQC Mock Inspection Templates?
We have created these CQC inspection checklists in collaboration with care industry experts. These checklists are free all-in-one resources your care home can use to deliver high-quality, personalised care, maintain CQC compliance, and prepare for your next CQC inspection.
- Prepare for CQC Inspections
These checklists enable you to conduct mock CQC inspections and simulate the real inspection process, helping to identify gaps and address them before a real inspection takes place.
Regular use of these checklists allows care homes to self-assess and evaluate their compliance with the CQC SAF and align with fundamental standards, such as safety, dignity, and effective care.
- Improve CQC Ratings
A strong emphasis on governance and evidence-based practices ensures your care home meets Regulation 17 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. This is central to achieving a ‘Good’ or ‘Outstanding’ rating. Addressing common pitfalls, including inadequate governance or unclear evidence, these CQC checklists help care homes boost overall performance and ensure compliance.
- Streamline Compliance Processes
Our CQC inspection checklists can help care homes save time by consolidating evidence-gathering, documentation, and compliance reporting. They further enhance this by automating records and generating detailed reports. It allows managers to focus on implementing improvements rather than struggling with administrative overhead.
- Enhance Safety and Care Quality
These CQC checklists cover essential aspects of care, including infection control, safeguarding, and risk management, ensuring a safer environment for residents, staff, and visitors. They also ensure that personalised care plans are updated and reflective of residents’ needs, promoting person-centred care.
- Train and Engage Staff
They act as training resources, helping staff understand CQC expectations and their role in achieving compliance. They create a culture of accountability and prepare teams for inspection day. They also encourage staff involvement, making it easier for managers to align team efforts with operational goals.
- Support Leadership and Governance
By focusing on leadership accountability, our CQC compliance checklists integrate governance processes across all operations. This promotes transparency and ensures all stakeholders—from staff to residents—are engaged in maintaining high standards. Regular use reinforces leadership’s ability to implement corrective actions and foster a culture of continuous improvement.
Understanding CQC Inspections
CQC inspections are systematic evaluations carried out to ensure that health and social care services deliver safe, effective, compassionate, and high-quality care. They assess compliance with fundamental standards and provide feedback to care homes to drive improvement.
Key components of CQC inspections include the 5 key areas, quality statements under each of these key areas, and evidence categories associated with each of these quality statements.
Using our CQC inspection checklists and understanding the CQC inspection framework, care homes can achieve compliance and demonstrate their commitment to high-quality care. Care homes should also ensure records are updated and accessible, the environment is clean and safe, and the staff is trained and prepared.
Simplified CQC Compliance with inspections on-the-go
- Easily perform audits anywhere in the facility using a mobile device.
- Capture and attach photos as proof of compliance or areas needing attention.
- Instantly generate and share detailed reports after the inspections, simplifying documentation and action planning.
- Receive alerts for upcoming inspections and tasks, keeping everyone informed.