What we do

Healthcare Inspectorate Wales is the independent inspectorate and regulator of healthcare in Wales. We inspect NHS services, and regulate independent healthcare providers against a range of standards, policies, guidance and regulations to highlight areas requiring improvement.

We regulate and inspect independent healthcare services in Wales. We inspect NHS services in Wales. We undertake a programme of reviews to look in depth at national or more localised issues. We monitor concerns and safeguarding referrals. We take regulatory action to ensure registered independent healthcare services meet legislative requirements. We recommend improvements, immediate and longer term, to NHS services and independent healthcare services. We have a team of 87 staff who work for us, across Wales, supporting our functions and undertaking our assurance work. We have a team of specialist peer reviewers who we continually recruit to provide specialist, up to date knowledge about services and quality standards. We have specialists in Mental Health Act Administration and a panel of psychiatrists who provide our Second Opinion Appointed Doctor (SOAD) service. We have a panel of Patient Experience Reviewers and Experts by Experience to capture the voice of patients out on inspection.

Our purpose

To check that healthcare services are provided in a way which maximises the health and wellbeing of people 

Our values

We place people at the heart of what we do. We are:

  • Independent – we are impartial, deciding what work we do and where we do it
  • Objective - we are reasoned, fair and evidence driven
  • Decisive - we make clear judgements and take action to improve poor standards and highlight the good practice we find
  • Inclusive - we value and encourage equality and diversity through our work
  • Proportionate - we are agile and we carry out our work where it matters most

Our goal

To be a trusted voice which influences and drives improvement in healthcare

Our priorities

  • We will focus on the quality of healthcare provided to people and communities as they access, use and move between services.
  • We will adapt our approach to ensure we are responsive to emerging risks to patient safety
  • We will work collaboratively to drive system and service improvement within healthcare
  • We will support and develop our workforce to enable them, and the organisation, to deliver our priorities.