Kate Terroni has been appointed as chief inspector of adult social care by the Care Quality Commission, starting in May, and taking over from Debbie Westhead who was appointed interim chief inspector following the departure of Andrea Sutcliffe last month.

Terroni is currently director of adult social care at Oxfordshire County Council and co-chair of the ADASS workforce network. Before that, she was deputy director of commissioning at Oxfordshire County Council.

CQC chief executive Ian Trenholm said: “Kate has a strong track record in social care and her passion and commitment to improving outcomes for people is evident throughout her career. I also want to take this opportunity to thank Debbie Westhead for continuing to do such a great job in the role on an interim basis.

“I’ve no doubt that Kate will build on Andrea Sutcliffe’s impressive legacy to keep driving up standards in adult social care to make sure each and every person experiences the high-quality care they need.”