Enter & View

Introduction to Enter & View

Part of Healthwatch Rotherham remit is to carry out Enter & View visits.

The Health and Social Care Act 2012 legislation allows Enter & View activity to be undertaken on premises where health and social care is publicly funded, such as hospitals, residential homes, GP practices, dental surgeries, optometrists and pharmacies.  

We visit:

• To gather the views of health and social care service users, families and carers.
• To report what we see and hear to providers, regulators, Local Authority and NHS commissioners and quality assurers, the public, Healthwatch England and any other relevant partners to improve the quality of health and social care services.
• To develop insights and recommendations across multiple visits to inform strategic decision making at local and national levels.

Purpose of the visit:

• To collect the views from patients, families, volunteers and staff on services.
• To observe how the facility operates and provides its services. 
• To identify ‘Best Practice’ and highlight any areas of concern.

We follow Healthwatch England guidelines for Enter and View visits. 

Visits are carried out as 'announced visits' where arrangements are made with the service provider, or, if certain circumstances dictate, as 'unannounced visits'.

Enter & View visits can happen if people tell us there is a problem with a service, or if we hear good things about a service and want to learn and share examples of what a service does well.