The Care Quality Commission’s chief inspector of adult social care Andrea Sutcliffe is stepping down at the end of the year to become chief executive and registrar of the Nursing and Midwifery Council in January.

Sutcliffe spent five years as the CQC’s first-ever chief inspector of adult social care and she has helped transform the body’s approach for registering, monitoring, inspecting and rating over 21,000 adult social care services across England. Sutcliffe was known for championing the ‘Mum Test’ in the regulation of adult social care, while being instrumental in bringing together a coalition of organisations and national bodies in 2017 for the launch of ‘Quality Matters’.

Sutcliffe said: “Working with colleagues across the organisation, past and present, and in co-production with the public, providers, and our partners, we have achieved a great deal in the last five years. There will always be more to do, but I know that the strong team I work with will continue to drive improvement for people who use services.”

CQC chair Peter Wyman added: “To say that Andrea made the role of chief inspector of adult social care her own is an understatement – she is the first person to hold this role and in it, she has used her passion and commitment to make a real difference to people’s care.  

“She has championed people who use adult social care, called out poor care, and celebrated good care. The phrase she coined, the ‘Mum Test' – is this care good enough for your mum?’ really spoke to people as a meaningful assessment of quality that was also very personal.”