Management review at HKZ: agenda, report and example

A management review at HKZ is a meeting in which management assesses the care system as a whole. You look back over the past period and decide what needs to change. HKZ schemes follow the structure of ISO 9001, where the management review is a fixed requirement. The generic part is explained in the requirements of the standard. The report is the evidence that you have done it. How often you do it is set by the standard text of your scheme. Annually is usual under ISO 9001. Check the standard text of your HKZ scheme for the frequency that applies there.

Why does management do this?

A care organisation runs on a thousand small decisions a week. The management review forces a pause, once a year, to look at the whole. Ask questions such as: are we reaching our quality objectives, are more complaints coming in, and are improvement actions stalling because nobody has time?

Management is responsible, not the quality officer. The quality officer prepares the meeting and writes the report. But management takes the decisions. Make that distinction visible in the report.

The exact requirement, including the numbered clause in your chosen HKZ scheme, is in the standard text. That text is not freely available. Use this page as a working plan and check the requirement in your own scheme.

What belongs on the agenda?

The ISO 9001 standard, on which HKZ is built, lists a fixed set of topics for the management review. These are the things management must discuss. Below is a workable agenda for a care organisation, based on that structure. It is not the HKZ standard text; check the points against your own scheme.

Agenda item	What you discuss	Evidence you bring
1. Previous decisions	Have the actions from the last review been completed?	Action list with status
2. Changes	What has changed in legislation, clients or staff?	Overview of changes
3. Quality objectives	Have the objectives been met, and why or why not?	Objectives overview with figures
4. Client satisfaction and complaints	What do clients and relatives say?	Complaints register, survey
5. Incidents	Which incidents were reported, and what did we learn?	Incident register
6. Audit results	What came out of the internal audit and external checks?	Audit reports
7. Resources	Are there enough people, training and resources?	Staffing plan, training register
8. Opportunities for improvement	What do we propose to do better now?	Proposals with owner

The order is flexible. Each point must, however, come back in the report. If one is missing, record why.

Example of a short report

A fictitious example of a report for a small nursing home unit. It is deliberately short. A management review does not need to be a thick document.


Management review 2026, Westerpark location
Date: 14 January 2027
Present: director, quality officer, care manager

1. Previous decisions: 4 of 5 actions completed. Action 3 (update
   medication list) continues until 1 March. Owner: care manager.
2. Changes: new training requirement for care workers. Included in
   the training plan.
3. Objectives: complaints fell from 12 to 7. Target of no more than 6
   missed. Decision: 2027 target stays at 6, extra meeting with the teams.
4. Client satisfaction: average of 8.1 in the survey. Comment about
   meals is included in action 7.
5. Incidents: 9 reported incidents, 2 falls. Lesson learned: fall
   prevention on night shifts is discussed in the team meeting.
6. Audit results: two findings from the internal audit, both addressed.
7. Resources: staff shortage on the night shift. Decision: start recruitment.
8. Opportunities for improvement: digital signalling of complaints. Owner:
   quality officer, proposal by 1 April.

Decisions and actions: see action list 2027.
Approved by: [director's name]

Note what this report does. Each point has a decision, an owner or a date. The report describes not only what was discussed, but also what was agreed.

Common mistakes

No report. Without a report you cannot show that it happened.
Only saying things are going well. A review without figures and decisions is a formality.
Actions that never come back. Every action from the previous review must be discussed in the next one, even if it has been completed.
Management is absent. A review that only the quality officer holds is weak.
Planning it too late. Do not hold the management review the day before the external audit. That makes clear it was done ad hoc.

What can you expect at the audit?

What exactly an auditor checks is not set out in a public source. You can, however, expect these questions. Was a management review held? Are the agenda points in it? Have the decisions been followed up?

An auditor may also check whether the decisions match what they see in the system. If the report says the medication list has been updated, but the record says something different, that is a problem. This is how the management review connects with the internal audit and the audit process.

How do you prepare for the meeting?

A practical sequence:

Two weeks ahead. Gather the figures: complaints, incidents, training, objectives.
One week ahead. Prepare the agenda and the action list. Circulate the figures.
During the meeting. Go through the agenda. Record a decision for each point.
Within one week after the meeting. Send the report and put the actions into the plan.

This way you have a rhythm throughout the year, rather than one stressful day a year.

Checklist

Is management itself present?
Have all agenda points been discussed and recorded?
Does every decision have an owner and a date?
Have the actions from the previous review been followed up?
Is the report signed and sent within one week?
Do the figures match the incident register and the complaints?

If one of these questions is answered with no, plan a follow-up meeting before the external check takes place.