Quality Assurance Lead

The Quality Assurance Lead is a specialist field-based role within the Quality and Governance Directorate, responsible for delivering HC-One’s internal quality assurance framework across the Group’s portfolio of homes. Reporting to the Head of Regulation and Compliance, the postholder conducts structured internal quality inspections against HC-One’s internal quality framework, providing homes with an objective, expert assessment of their compliance position ahead of regulatory inspection and identifying areas where improvement is needed.

This is a high-impact, hands-on role requiring a confident and experienced quality professional who can assess the quality of care being delivered with an inspector’s eye, produce clear and well-evidenced inspection reports, and provide Home Managers and Area Directors with honest, constructive feedback that drives meaningful improvement. The Quality Assurance Lead works closely with the Head of Regulation and Compliance, Quality Improvement Leads and operational teams to ensure findings are acted upon and homes remain inspection ready.

Internal Quality Inspections

• Deliver a planned programme of internal quality inspections across homes, in line with the schedule agreed with the Head of Regulation and Compliance and prioritised according to regulatory risk, inspection history and operational intelligence.

• Conduct inspections against the internal quality framework, using the relevant regulatory inspection methodologies for England, Wales and Scotland to assess each home’s compliance position as a regulator would.

• Assess all aspects of home performance during visits, including quality and safety of care, leadership and management, staffing, governance, environment, and resident and family experience.

• Apply ratings and judgements consistently and rigorously, ensuring assessments are objective, evidence-based and accurately reflect the home’s position at the time of inspection.

Inspection Reporting and Feedback

• Produce clear, accurate and well-structured reports documenting findings, evidence, ratings or judgements and targeted improvement recommendations.

• Submit completed reports for review and sign-off within agreed timescales, ensuring findings are robustly evidenced and reports are consistently high quality.

• Deliver constructive feedback to Home Managers and Area Directors, helping leaders understand what inspectors would be likely to find and what needs to be strengthened.

• Ensure improvement actions are specific, measurable, realistic and prioritised according to risk.

Follow-Up and Improvement Tracking

• Monitor progress of improvement actions following inspections, following up with Home Managers and Area Directors at agreed intervals.

• Escalate homes where actions are not progressing, where re-inspection shows deterioration, or where findings indicate imminent regulatory risk.

• Conduct re-inspections where homes have significant improvement requirements or poor regulatory outcomes, providing an updated compliance position.

• Work closely with Quality Improvement Leads where sustained improvement support is required, ensuring a coordinated response from the Quality and Governance Directorate.

Framework Maintenance and Inspection Readiness

• Support the Head of Regulation and Compliance to keep the internal quality framework up to date, identifying any changes to regulatory methodologies, rating descriptors or evidence requirements.

• Contribute to audit tools, evidence checklists, self-assessment guides and inspection preparation resources, drawing on learning from home visits.

• Stay current with CQC, CIW and Care Inspectorate inspection frameworks and share regulatory insight from inspection activity.

• Support Home Managers and Area Directors to prepare for regulatory inspection, including evidence gathering, self-assessment and presentation of the home’s work.

KPI Monitoring, Intelligence and Stakeholder Engagement

• Contribute inspection-based intelligence to Group quality and compliance reporting, helping to contextualise performance data and identify homes where trends align with inspection findings.

• Maintain accurate records of inspection activity, findings, ratings and action progress within quality management systems.

• Build positive, constructive relationships with Home Managers, Area Directors and Regional Directors, establishing the role as credible, knowledgeable and supportive.

Work collaboratively with Quality Improvement Leads, Training and Practice Development colleagues and other Quality and Governance colleagues to support a joined-up approach to quality improvement.

At HC-One, kindness is more than a word. It is a belief that caring for people means caring about what matters most to them so we can support them to lead their best possible life.

To be able to provide the kindest possible care there are 5 values or qualities that everyone who is part of the HC-One team shows up with, supports and coaches in each other every single day. We call these 5 qualities Kindness the HC-One Way: We are curious and ask questions, look for clues and seek to understand. We are compassionate and try to walk in the shoes of others. We're creative yet practical, using our imagination to make things happen. We are courageous in how we support residents to live the life they want, and we can always be counted on.

We champion inclusivity, fostering a workplace where everyone feels valued and can be themselves. Our diverse and inclusive workforce allows us to learn from each other and better represent the communities we serve.

Our dedicated, professional colleagues strive to always deliver outstanding care – and we care about our talented teams too, supporting them in their professional and personal growth. We are committed to developing people that work for us through robust career pathways, CPD and post graduate programmes. Throughout your career, HC-One will invest in you with great opportunities to progress into regional and national roles