CQC and local authorities will ask for Provider records of visits. We have developed a Provider visit report template that can be used to evidence Provider oversight and governance of a service. The template covers;

• Discussions with service users, staff, visitors and the management team.
• Staffing levels
• Records
• Notifiable events, safeguardings etc
• Complaints
• Compliments
• Continuous Improvement Plan
• Environmental Observations
• Planned Improvements
• Conclusions around overall quality
• Action Plan

Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014: Regulation 17

The intention of this regulation is to make sure that providers have systems and processes that ensure that they are able to meet other requirements in this part of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 (Regulations 4 to 20A). To meet this regulation; providers must have effective governance, including assurance and auditing systems or processes. These must assess, monitor and drive improvement in the quality and safety of the services provided, including the quality of the experience for people using the service. The systems and processes must also assess, monitor and mitigate any risks relating the health, safety and welfare of people using services and others. Providers must continually evaluate and seek to improve their governance and auditing practice.

As part of their governance, providers must seek and act on feedback from people using the service, those acting on their behalf, staff and other stakeholders, so that they can continually evaluate the service and drive improvement.

When requested, providers must provide a written report to CQC setting out how they assess, monitor, and where required, improve the quality and safety of their services.

CQC can prosecute for a breach of part of this regulation (17(3)) if a provider fails to submit such a report when requested. CQC may consider that this failure could prevent the provider from taking appropriate, timely action. CQC could therefore move directly to prosecution for a breach of this part of the regulation without first serving a Warning Notice.