Case Study: Care Quality Commission (CQC)

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Supporting Accessible Healthcare Inspections with Interpreting and Accessibility Services

Overview

Since 2018, Prestige Network has partnered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to deliver a comprehensive range of interpreting, translation and accessibility services that support inclusive healthcare inspections across England.

Our services include British Sign Language (BSL) interpreting, spoken language interpreting, translation, Easy Read documents, accessible formatting, braille and audio transcription, helping ensure people can participate fully in the inspection process regardless of language or communication needs.

By improving access to communication, Prestige Network supports the CQC in gathering meaningful feedback from patients and residents while promoting equality, accessibility and high-quality care.

Challenge

The Care Quality Commission is responsible for assessing the quality, safety and effectiveness of health and social care services across England.

To carry out fair and inclusive inspections, inspectors must be able to communicate effectively with patients and residents from a wide range of linguistic and accessibility backgrounds.

This presented several challenges:

• Enabling meaningful conversations with Deaf and hard of hearing patients through qualified British Sign Language (BSL) interpreters.
• Supporting communication with residents whose first language was not English.
• Providing accessible information in alternative formats, including Easy Read, braille and audio.
• Ensuring communication barriers did not prevent patients from sharing their experiences during inspections.
• Supporting the CQC's commitment to equality, inclusion and accessible healthcare.

Without professional language and accessibility support, valuable patient feedback could be missed, affecting the quality and inclusivity of inspection outcomes.

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Solution

Prestige Network provides the Care Quality Commission with a fully managed language and accessibility service designed to support communication throughout the inspection process.

Our nationwide network of professional interpreters and accessibility specialists enables inspectors to communicate confidently with individuals from diverse linguistic and communication backgrounds.

British Sign Language (BSL) Interpreting

Qualified BSL interpreters support conversations between inspectors and Deaf patients and residents, ensuring individuals can fully participate in interviews and share their experiences without communication barriers.

Spoken Language Interpreting

Prestige Network provides professional interpreters across a wide range of languages, including:

• Polish
• Bulgarian
• Urdu
• Bengali
• Gujarati
• Farsi
• And many more

This enables inspectors to conduct accurate, impartial and culturally appropriate conversations with patients whose first language is not English.

Accessible Information Services

Alongside interpreting, Prestige Network produces information in accessible formats, including:

• Easy Read documents
• Braille
• Audio recordings
• Accessible document formatting
• Professional translation services

These services help ensure important information is available to everyone, regardless of language, literacy level or disability.

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The Outcome

Prestige Network's ongoing partnership with the Care Quality Commission has helped improve accessibility throughout the inspection process, ensuring patients and residents can communicate effectively regardless of language or communication needs.

By combining British Sign Language interpreting, multilingual interpreting, translation and accessible information services, we help the CQC gather more representative feedback while supporting inclusive inspections and informed regulatory decisions.

The partnership demonstrates Prestige Network's expertise in delivering secure, scalable language and accessibility services for healthcare organisations, regulators and public sector bodies where communication, equality and inclusion are essential.

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