CQC board member to head up policy unit at 10 Downing Street

Camilla Cavendish has been appointed Head of the Policy Unit at 10 Downing Street. She will take up this post with immediate effect and will therefore step aside from her role as a member of CQC’s board.

David Behan, chief executive of the CQC said: "I am delighted that Camilla Cavendish is to take up the post of Head of the Policy Unit at 10 Downing Street. We are sorry to be losing her from the board. She has brought a sharp intellectual challenge to the work of CQC. She has made a significant contribution to CQC’s development and new direction. She will be missed and we wish her well in her new role."

In 2013 Ms Cavendish was responsible for an independent review that was carried out in the wake of the Francis Inquiry that examined the causes of the failings in care at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust.

The Cavendish review made a number of recommendations as to how the training and support of both hospital healthcare assistants and social care support workers, could be improved to ensure they provide care to the highest standard in hospitals, care homes and people’s own homes.

The review proposed that all healthcare assistants and social care support workers should undergo the same basic training, based on the best practice that already exists in the system, and must get a standard ‘certificate of fundamental care’ before they can care for people unsupervised.

This resulted in the development of the Care Certificate, which as of April 2015 is being rolled out to all new starters in health and social care.