Tiffany Nelson’s Story
I did not arrive in compliance from a consultancy graduate scheme. I started in care and support roles, doing the work.
From there I moved into care planning and coordinating, worked as a learning disabilities assistant nurse, and qualified as a vocational assessor training others coming into the sector. Later came operational management, quality assurance management, and consultancy.
Along the way I have worked in learning disability services, supported living, adult residential care homes, home care and mental health. The three I know best from the inside are learning disability services, adult residential care and home care, meaning I understand not just what the regulations require, but what it takes to deliver them on a Sunday night when two staff have called in sick.
Providers often tell me they are looking for an ex-CQC inspector. I understand the appeal, someone who has worked inside the regulator knows how it thinks.
But regulation is only half the job. Knowing what the framework requires is not the same as knowing how to build a rota that delivers it, or how to hold a service together while you put things right.
So if you are choosing a consultant, the question worth asking is not only whether they have inspected services, it is what they did before they inspected.
I have been on both sides of a CQC inspection
I have sat in the provider's chair, accountable for the service being judged. And I have sat alongside providers as the person helping them prepare, respond and put things right. Those are very different experiences, and having done both is the reason I can usually tell you what an inspector is going to ask before they ask it.
Fifteen years, starting ‘on the floor’
Qualifications
Level 7 Strategic Management
Level 5 Leadership and Management
Level 5 CIPD in People Management
Various training and assessing qualifications
The CIPD qualification is one I use more than people expect. A surprising number of compliance problems turn out to be workforce problems wearing a compliance hat — recruitment that doesn't stand up, supervision that isn't happening, a registered manager with responsibility and no authority.
Why I started this consultancy
I spent years helping one organisation at a time, then worked for consultancy firms supporting others. What became clear was that I could do more good working with many providers than with one, and that I wanted to do it my own way.
Honesty and integrity have run through my whole career, and they are not decoration on a website. In practice it means I will tell you if your application is not ready, if your manager is not prepared, or if what you are asking me to help evidence is not actually happening in your service. Providers do not always want to hear that. It is also the reason the ones who work with me get through.
How I work
Support is tailored to your service. I do not send template documents and call it consultancy. I work alongside you, and I stay involved until the thing is finished rather than handing over a report and disappearing.
I also work outside standard office hours. Partly because this sector runs 24/7 and a crisis rarely lands neatly at 10am on a Tuesday. Partly because I am a mum to a little one, and I have built my working life around being present for both. If you need me at 8pm because a notice has landed and you cannot think straight, that is usually fine.
What I'm seeing at the moment
Two things dominate my conversations with providers right now.
The first is registration. CQC has changed how it assesses applications, and that has shown up in what applicants are being asked for. It is not always consistent; two providers submitting similar services can get noticeably different requests back. Some are getting stuck on the content of their policies. Others are struggling with financial forecasting, which catches people out precisely because it is not the part they prepared for.
The second is the framework. The quality statements are being condensed, and providers are unsettled by another change arriving so soon after the last one. The question I am asked most is a simple one: what does this actually mean for my inspection? Most of the worry comes from not knowing, rather than from the change itself.
If either of those is where you are, you are not on your own.
Who I am probably not right for
If you want someone to just produce documents that make your service ‘look better’ with bigger folders to sit on the shelf, I am the wrong consultant.
If you want someone who will tell you the truth about where you stand and then help you fix it, we will get on well.
Credentials
ICO registered: registration number ZC222665
Member, Institute of Health and Social Care Management
Supporting adult social care providers across England
Ready to talk?
Get in touch for an informal conversation about your service. No pressure, and I will tell you honestly whether I can help.