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Introduction to Enter and View

Enter and View visits are conducted by a small team of trained volunteers/staff, who are prepared as ‘Authorised Representatives’ to conduct visits to health and social care premises.

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

Enter and View visits can happen if people tell us there is a problem with a service but, equally, they can occur when services have a good reputation – so we can learn about and share examples of what a service does well.

A closer look at your local health and care services

One of the ways we can meet our statutory responsibilities is by using our legal powers to Enter and View health and social care services to see them in action. We visit publicly funded health and social care services in Redbridge to see their day to day activities and to talk to service users, their relatives and carers, as well as staff. We do this with authorised representatives, who go through a training programme with us.

Every local Healthwatch across the country has a legal responsibility to carry out an Enter and View programme. But we are not inspectors like the Care Quality Commission (CQC). Instead, we focus on gathering the views and experiences of the people receiving care.

Our Enter and View role is different to an inspection. We focus on what it is like for people receiving care. We provide extra eyes and ears, especially for the most isolated and vulnerable. Visiting places where people actually receive care is a powerful way for us to hear directly from individuals about their experiences of services.

Screenshot from a video of a man doing sign language

An Enter and View Report of three local hospitals

13 Local Healthwatch working together to improve local health and social care: The Health Education North, Central and East London team have trained a number of profoundly deaf/hard of hearing people to become Authorised Representatives for Enter and View Visits. The video is a report from an Enter and View. British Sign Language, Subtitles and Audio available.

Find out more

Man standing in front of a healthwatch banner

Our Enter and View representatives

Enter and View visits are carried out as ‘announced visits’ where arrangements are made with the service provider, or, if certain circumstances dictate, as ‘unannounced’ visits. 

Our representatives allow us to see the services available to the public and find out what improvements could be made.

Find out more

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