Our Enter and View programme

Our Enter and View programme involves visiting publicly funded health and social care services in Lambeth to see what is going on 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.

How does it work?

  1. We arrange a visit with the service and read background information on it.
  2. On an agreed date, our trained volunteers spend several hours at the location, talking to both people receiving care as well as those providing it.
  3. We write a report on what our volunteers have seen and heard.
  4. We publish the report on this web page and share it with the organisations involved, as well as the CQC and Healthwatch England.

Click here for our Healthwatch Lambeth Enter and View Protocol and Procedures

Our Enter and View Team

All our Enter and View authorised representatives must be trained and undertake a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check before making any visits. We currently have nine representatives.

We also have a team of Enter and View authorised visitors who visit services which are open to the public and are accompanied by a person who has undertaken a DBS check.

Enter and View authorised representatives

  • Mairéad Healy, chief executive
  • Raks Patel, Projects and Engagement Manager
  • Anna D'Agostino, Engagement Officer
  • Caroline O'Neill, Engagement Officer 
The Well Centre

Our current Enter and View plans

Our Enter and View plans in Autumn 2022 include a visit to The Well Centre in Herne Hill where, along with three young people, we will get the views of service users about the centre, which supports people aged between 11 and 20.