Health and Social Care Act 2008

63Entry and inspection: supplementaryE+W

(1)This section applies where a person (“A”) is authorised by virtue of section 62 to enter and inspect premises.

(2)If A considers it necessary or expedient for relevant purposes, A may—

(a)make any examination into the state and management of the premises or the treatment of persons receiving care there,

(b)inspect and take copies of any documents or records,

(c)have access to, and check the operation of, any computer, and any associated apparatus or material, which is or has been in use in connection with any documents or records,

(d)inspect any other item,

(e)seize and remove from the premises any documents, records or other items,

(f)interview in private—

(i)any person who carries on or manages a regulated activity, or who manages the provision of NHS care or adult social services, at the premises,

(ii)any person working at the premises, and

(iii)any person receiving care at the premises who consents to be interviewed, and

(g)if the conditions in subsection (3) are met, examine in private any person receiving care at the premises.

(3)The conditions are—

(a)A is a registered medical practitioner or registered nurse,

(b)A has reason to believe that the person to be examined is not receiving proper care at the premises, and

(c)the person to be examined—

(i)is capable of giving consent to the examination and does so, or

(ii)is incapable of giving consent to the examination.

(4)The power under subsection (2)(b) includes power—

(a)to require any person holding or accountable for documents or records (whether or not kept at the premises) to produce them for inspection at the premises, and

(b)to require any records which are kept by means of a computer to be produced in a form in which they are legible and can be taken away.

(5)The power under subsection (2)(f)(i) to interview a person in private includes power, in the case of a body corporate, to interview in private—

(a)any director, manager, secretary or other similar officer of the body corporate, and

(b)where the body is an English NHS body or English local authority, any officer or member of the NHS body or local authority.

(6)A may—

(a)require any person to afford A such facilities and assistance with respect to matters within the person's control as are necessary to enable A to exercise powers under section 62 and this section, and

(b)take such measurements and photographs, and make such recordings, as A considers necessary to enable A to exercise those powers.

(7)A person who without reasonable excuse—

(a)obstructs the exercise of a power conferred by section 62 or this section, or

(b)fails to comply with a requirement imposed under this section,

is guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 4 on the standard scale.

(8)In this section—

(a)“relevant purposes” means the purposes of any of the Commission's regulatory functions,

(b)any reference to documents or records includes a reference to personal and medical records, and

(c)any reference to a person receiving care at premises includes a reference to a person who is accommodated there.