What GP partners should know before a CQC inspection

Think about the questions you would ask if you were joining your practice as a new partner. What does the team do well? Which patients need closer attention? How are concerns raised, and how do partners know that agreed improvements are working?

Those questions are a useful starting point for CQC preparation too. They help partners build an informed account of the care their practice provides and the arrangements that support it.

The preparation begins in ordinary working life: reviewing information, listening to colleagues and following decisions through. An inspection announcement may prompt a final check, but the understanding and evidence behind that account take time to develop.

Can you describe your practice and its current priorities?

Start with the people your practice serves. Consider their needs, the challenges they face in accessing care and the ways your team responds.

Be ready to explain what the practice is proud of, supported by examples. That might be a change informed by patient feedback, a well-established clinical review process or a successful collaboration with another service.

Then consider the priorities still being worked on. How were they chosen? Who contributed? What progress has been made, and what needs further attention?

A short conversation between partners and the practice manager can help establish this shared picture. Different perspectives are useful: they reveal where the account needs more detail or where further discussion would help.

How do you know patients who need monitoring are being reviewed?

One practical preparation step is to run the available CQC clinical searches on your system and arrange for an appropriate clinician to review the findings. Pay particular attention to patients who may be overdue for review or monitoring, including high-risk patients.

CQC explains that its searches identify patient groups for further examination and do not necessarily give a definitive account of care. They should support, rather than replace, the practice's own continuing clinical governance and monitoring arrangements. See CQC's clinical searches guidance.

For each finding, establish whether there is an outstanding clinical need, a recording issue or another explanation. An appropriate clinician should determine the response and its urgency using current guidance and the patient's circumstances.

Record the review and any follow-up in the appropriate clinical record. If contact or an appointment is needed, make responsibility clear and track the action through, including when the patient cannot be reached or declines.

Partners should understand the remaining concerns and how they are being managed. That is more informative than knowing only that a search has been run.

How do you know clinical safety processes are working?

Choose a few familiar pathways and consider how the practice checks them. Test-result handling, referrals, medicines monitoring and responses to safety alerts are useful areas for discussion.

For each, ask who leads the process, how outstanding work is identified and how cover operates during absence. Then ask what information gives partners confidence that the arrangements work.

A process description explains the intended steps. A recent review, an audit or an example of an exception being resolved adds evidence about those steps in practice.

Ask the relevant clinical and administrative leads to explain the arrangements together where their responsibilities meet. That discussion can uncover unclear handovers and give colleagues an opportunity to request support.

Can you explain how the practice identifies and manages risk?

Partners need a current understanding of the matters that could affect safe care and service delivery, along with the measures already in place to manage them.

CQC's Regulation 17 guidance describes identifying, assessing, monitoring and addressing risks, with action reflecting their seriousness.

A useful preparation discussion therefore goes beyond naming a risk. Ask what the practice has done, who is responsible and whether the safeguards remain effective. Establish which decisions need partner input and how urgent concerns are escalated.

Be open about work still in progress. Explain the current position, the protection in place while improvements are made and when the next review is due. Where a deadline has slipped, understand why and agree what happens next.

What has the practice learned and changed?

Select examples from audits, significant events, complaints or feedback that show how the team responds to information.

For an illustrative example, imagine feedback reveals that some patients are unsure what to do after a referral. The practice discusses the issue, agrees clearer patient information and checks later whether the explanation is helping.

Partners should be able to connect the original finding with the action taken and the follow-up. If the result is uncertain, say what further information is being gathered.

Include how learning reached the people who needed it. A decision at a partner meeting may require discussion with reception, administrative or clinical colleagues before it changes anyone's experience.

Can the leadership team connect its account with evidence?

Bring partners, the practice manager and relevant leads together to walk through the practice's current priorities. Use real records to support the conversation and identify anything that needs clarification. An evidence index can make this easier - keep it simple:

• Topic or process
• Location of the relevant record
• Responsible lead
• Date of the latest review
• Outstanding action, where applicable

Link to existing records where possible. Keep patient information in the appropriate secure systems and restrict access to authorised people. When responding to CQC, follow the actual request and agreed arrangements for sharing information.

The index is a navigation aid. Its value is helping the team find and explain the evidence behind its account.

Why begin before an inspection is announced?

Patient follow-up takes time. So do staff discussions, changes to working arrangements and checking whether improvements have helped. Starting early allows this work to happen as part of normal care and governance. Build a short preparation conversation into an existing meeting. These five Sansos prompts can guide it:

• What are we proud of, and what supports that view?
• Which patients or processes need closer attention?
• What are we improving, and why?
• How do we know our actions are helping?
• What decisions or support are needed next?

These are discussion prompts, rather than an official CQC question list. Return to them as the practice's priorities change.

Partners can speak with greater confidence when they understand how care, decisions and improvement connect. That understanding supports the team throughout the year and provides a sound basis for explaining the practice when an inspection takes place.

Use these questions at your next partner meeting and explore our guide to good partner oversight.