Legal Document

Terms of Service

CQC IQ SaaS Platform — Healthcare Provider Agreement · Version 1.0 · Effective Date: 9 April 2026

Important Notice: This document is a professionally drafted template prepared with the assistance of AI. It must be reviewed, amended and approved by a qualified solicitor admitted in England and Wales before publication or use with customers.

These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your access to and use of the CQC IQ platform, website and related services (collectively, the "Service") operated by Ophthalmic Supplies and Solutions Ltd, trading as CQC IQ ("CQC IQ", "we", "us" or "our").

By registering for an account, accessing the Service or clicking "I agree", you agree to be bound by these Terms. If you are agreeing on behalf of a company or other legal entity, you represent that you have authority to bind that entity.

If you do not agree to these Terms, do not use the Service.

IMPORTANT: CQC IQ is a preparation and readiness tool. It does not guarantee any particular CQC rating or inspection outcome. Readiness scores are indicators based on checklist completion — not assessments of actual care quality. Always seek independent professional compliance advice.

1. Definitions

"Account": The account created by you to access the Service.
"Customer / you": The organisation or individual who has agreed to these Terms.
"Location": A physical premises registered on the Service for compliance tracking.
"Authorised Users": Employees, contractors and agents of the Customer authorised to access the Service.
"Customer Data": All data, content and information submitted by you or your Authorised Users to the Service.
"AI Features": Features of the Service that use artificial intelligence, including the Mock Inspector, Scenario Scoring, Gap Analysis and Clinic Walkthrough Scan.
"Subscription": The paid subscription plan selected by you during registration or upgrade.
"CQC": The Care Quality Commission, the independent regulator of health and social care in England.

2. The Service

2.1 What CQC IQ Provides

CQC IQ provides a software-as-a-service platform designed to help healthcare providers prepare for CQC inspections. The Service includes:

Compliance checklists mapped to CQC quality statements and regulations
Readiness scoring and traffic light dashboard
AI-powered mock inspection interview practice
Scenario library for situational learning
Staff simulator and interview preparation guides
Inspection playbook and action tracker
Clinic Walkthrough Scan (Professional and Enterprise tiers only)

2.2 Important Limitations

CQC IQ is NOT a compliance guarantee. Readiness scores are calculated from checklist completion data provided by you. They indicate preparation levels — not actual CQC ratings. A service could score 90% on CQC IQ and still receive a Requires Improvement rating from the CQC, or score 40% and receive a Good rating. CQC inspectors assess quality of care holistically using professional judgement.

CQC IQ:

Is not affiliated with, endorsed by or approved by the Care Quality Commission
Does not provide legal, clinical, regulatory or compliance advice
Does not guarantee inspection outcomes or CQC ratings
Does not replace the need for qualified compliance advisors, solicitors or clinical governance professionals
AI-generated content is for training purposes only and may not reflect how a real CQC inspector would respond

3. Account Registration & Access

3.1 Account Creation

To use the Service you must register an account by providing accurate, current and complete information. You are responsible for maintaining the accuracy of this information.

3.2 Authorised Users

You are responsible for all activity that occurs under your account, including activity by Authorised Users. You must ensure Authorised Users comply with these Terms and keep access credentials secure.

3.3 Account Security

You must notify us immediately at [email protected] if you become aware of any unauthorised access to your account. We are not liable for any loss resulting from unauthorised use of your account.

3.4 One Account Per Organisation

Each organisation may have one account. Sharing accounts between multiple organisations is prohibited.

4. Subscriptions & Payment

4.1 Subscription Tiers

Tier	Price	Features
Starter	£49/month per location	Checklists and readiness dashboard, 1 admin user
Professional	£99/month per location	Unlimited users, AI Mock Inspector, Scenarios, Staff Simulator, Playbook, Clinic Walkthrough Scan (5 scans/location/month)
Enterprise	Custom pricing	Multi-site, dedicated support, API access

4.2 Free Trial

New accounts receive a 14-day free trial on the Professional tier. No credit card is required to start a trial. At the end of the trial period, access continues only if a Subscription is purchased.

4.3 Payment

Subscriptions are billed monthly in advance. Payment is processed by our payment provider (Stripe). By providing payment details you authorise us to charge your payment method for all fees due.

4.4 Price Changes

We may change our subscription prices with 30 days written notice. Continued use of the Service after the price change takes effect constitutes acceptance of the new price.

4.5 Refunds

Monthly subscriptions are non-refundable except where required by applicable law. If you cancel mid-month, your access continues until the end of the billing period.

4.6 Taxes

All prices are exclusive of VAT. VAT will be charged at the applicable rate where required by law.

5. Acceptable Use

5.1 Permitted Use

You may use the Service solely for the purpose of preparing for CQC inspections at your registered healthcare locations in England.

5.2 Prohibited Use

You must not:

Use the Service for any unlawful purpose or in violation of any applicable regulation
Upload or process any patient-identifiable information to the Service
Upload video or images containing identifiable patients without their explicit consent
Share access credentials with persons outside your organisation
Attempt to reverse-engineer, decompile or extract the source code of the Service
Use the Service to build a competing product or service
Scrape, crawl or extract data from the Service by automated means
Misrepresent your organisation's identity or compliance status
Upload content that is defamatory, abusive, illegal or infringes third party rights

5.3 Patient Data — DO NOT UPLOAD PATIENT DATA. CQC IQ is not designed or approved as a clinical system. You must not upload any patient-identifiable information, clinical records, patient images or any data relating to individual patients to the Service. Doing so would constitute a breach of UK GDPR and your obligations under the Data Protection Act 2018.

6. AI Features — Important Notice

6.1 AI-Generated Content

Certain features of the Service use artificial intelligence. AI-generated content including mock inspector questions, answer feedback, gap analysis narratives and scenario scoring is:

Generated automatically and may contain errors or omissions
For preparation and training purposes only
Not a substitute for professional compliance advice or assessment
Not representative of how actual CQC inspectors will respond

6.2 Mock Inspector

The AI Mock Inspector simulates inspection questions to help you practise. The questions, follow-ups and scoring are AI-generated approximations. They do not represent the views, standards or expectations of the CQC.

6.3 Clinic Walkthrough Scan

The Clinic Walkthrough Scan analyses video frames using AI vision technology. By using this feature you confirm that:

The video contains no identifiable patients or persons who have not consented to filming
No confidential patient information is visible in the video
You are authorised to record and share footage of the premises
All findings are labelled as possible issues for manual verification — not confirmed violations

Video frames are deleted immediately after analysis. The video file is deleted within 1 hour of upload.

7. Intellectual Property

7.1 Our IP

The Service, including all software, content, design, trademarks, logos and materials, is owned by or licensed to CQC IQ and protected by intellectual property laws. You receive a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable licence to use the Service during your Subscription.

7.2 Your Data

You retain ownership of all Customer Data you upload to the Service. You grant us a limited licence to process and store your Customer Data solely to provide the Service to you.

7.3 Feedback

If you provide us with feedback, suggestions or ideas about the Service, you grant us a perpetual, royalty-free licence to use that feedback without restriction or compensation to you.

8. Data Protection

The collection and use of personal data in connection with the Service is governed by our Privacy Policy and, where applicable, our Data Processing Agreement. By using the Service you confirm that you have read and accepted the Privacy Policy.

You are responsible as a data controller for any personal data you upload to the Service. You must ensure you have a lawful basis for any personal data processed through the Service and that you comply with UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018.

9. Confidentiality

Each party agrees to keep confidential any non-public information of the other party disclosed in connection with these Terms, and to use such information only for the purposes of these Terms.

10. Warranties & Disclaimers

10.1 Our Warranty

We warrant that the Service will perform materially as described in our documentation. If it does not, we will use reasonable efforts to correct the issue.

10.2 Disclaimer: TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. WE SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM ANY WARRANTY THAT THE SERVICE WILL ENSURE COMPLIANCE WITH CQC REQUIREMENTS OR RESULT IN ANY PARTICULAR INSPECTION RATING.

11. Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, CQC IQ's total liability to you for any claims arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Service is limited to the total fees paid by you in the 3 months preceding the claim.

We are not liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive damages, including lost profits, loss of data, or damage to reputation, even if we have been advised of the possibility of such damages.

Nothing in these Terms limits liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, fraud or any other liability that cannot be excluded by law.

12. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless CQC IQ, its directors, employees and agents from any claims, losses, damages or expenses (including legal fees) arising from your use of the Service in breach of these Terms, your violation of applicable law, or your infringement of any third party rights.

13. Term & Termination

13.1 Term

These Terms apply from the date you accept them until your account is terminated.

13.2 Termination by You

You may cancel your Subscription at any time from your account settings. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the current billing period.

13.3 Termination by Us

We may suspend or terminate your account immediately if you breach these Terms, fail to pay fees when due, or if we are required to do so by law.

13.4 Effect of Termination

On termination, your access to the Service ceases. We will retain your Customer Data for 30 days following termination, during which you may request an export. After 30 days we will delete your Customer Data unless legally required to retain it.

14. Changes to Terms

We may update these Terms at any time. We will notify you of material changes by email or prominent notice in the Service at least 14 days before the change takes effect. Continued use of the Service after that date constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms.

15. General

15.1 Governing Law

These Terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales. Any disputes will be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.

15.2 Entire Agreement

These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy and any applicable Data Processing Agreement, constitute the entire agreement between you and CQC IQ.

15.3 Severability

If any provision of these Terms is found to be unenforceable, the remaining provisions will remain in full force.

15.4 No Waiver

Our failure to enforce any right or provision of these Terms does not constitute a waiver of that right or provision.

15.5 Contact

For questions about these Terms, contact us at [email protected] or write to Ophthalmic Supplies and Solutions Ltd (trading as CQC IQ), England.