New Deputy Chief Inspector for Adult Social Care

We're delighted to announce the appointment of Sue Howard as our new permanent Deputy Chief Inspector (DCI) of Adult Social Care for the Central Region.

Sue is no stranger to CQC, having been acting in the DCI role since last September and before then as regional Head of Inspection.

An experienced leader, Sue's first job was as a night care assistant in a home for older people before forming an ambition to progress into care management.

In 2008, Sue was appointed to an acting regulation manager role at The Commission for Social Care Inspection, a post which then became local area manager and later compliance manager with the transition to CQC.

In 2011, she became a Regional Lead and then Head of Regional Compliance, managing compliance managers and overseeing inspection activity in the Central West Region.

Commenting on her new permanent role, Sue said: "I really welcome the opportunity to continue serving the people that use adult social care services and their families in the Central Region. I have the added benefit of a great management team and staff to support me who work tirelessly towards encouraging services to improve by sharing practice that we have identified as Good and Outstanding, as well as taking enforcement action against services that are not good enough."

Chief Inspector of Adult Social Care, Andrea Sutcliffe, added: "This is a fantastic appointment and very well deserved. Sue has done a great job of supporting the management team and staff in the Central patch and brings with her a wealth of experience in shaping the delivery of regulation. I am delighted she is now a permanent leader for this Region as we continue to embed our new approach of monitoring, inspecting and rating adult social care services."

Sue will take on the permanent role with immediate effect. The Central Region that she will oversee covers the West Midlands, East Midlands and East of England.