Enter and View

Healthwatch will continue to enter and view services in the same way that Swindon LINk did and hold service providers to account. We feed information back to service providers, Healthwatch England and the Care Quality Commission.

What is Healthwatch Enter and View?

Powers and regulations

Under the Healthwatch regulations, local Healthwatch organisations have the power to Enter and View providers so that our authorised representatives can observe matters relating to health and social care services.

Organisations must allow an authorised representative to Enter and View and observe activities on premises controlled by the provider as long as this does not affect the provision of care or the privacy and dignity of people using services.

These powers do not extend to Enter and View of services relating to local authorities’ social services functions for people under the age of 18.

Providers do not have to allow entry to parts of a care home which are not communal areas or allow entry to premises if their work on the premises relates to children’s social services.

Purpose

The purpose of the visit will be to identify good practice that can be celebrated and shared with others, and to identify any issues about which service users feel concerned.

What happens?

A member of the Healthwatch team will normally contact the provider in advance and let them know about the intended visit. A small team of Healthwatch volunteers will come to observe the service. They will all have received training and will all have had a DBS check. They will ask staff, service users, and family members if present, some questions in a friendly and informal style about their experiences of the service. Some questions may relate to experiences of health and social care services more generally.

After an Enter and View visit, a short report will be written up and shared with the provider of the service. Recommendations may be made in order to help make services better for the people who use them. The report may also be shared with relevant commissioners and be put up on this website.

In addition to staff members Carol Willis, Jo Osorio and Sam Baker, Healthwatch Swindon Authorised Representatives as at January 2019 are:

Nazma Ramruttun, Norma Thompson, Andrea Hague and George Cahill

Authorised Representatives for the 'Quality Checkers' programme in partnership with Swindon Advocacy Movement:

Mark Court, Kerry Smith, Tammy Peapell, Alison Evans

Further information

If you have any questions or would like further information about Enter and View visits, as a provider of services or as a service user, please do not hesitate to get in touch.