Assessors rarely open with a question about PAT testing. They tend to ask how the home knows its equipment is safe, and then look for whatever backs the answer up. For a home in York, Malton, Northallerton or Scarborough, that means your records have to make sense to someone who has never walked the building before and who has an hour to form a view.
The regulations the records answer to
Regulation 15 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 requires premises and equipment to be clean, secure, suitable, properly used and properly maintained. CQC's published guidance on Regulation 15 expects regular health and safety risk assessments of premises and equipment, and arrangements for service, maintenance, renewal and replacement that meet current legislation, guidance and manufacturers' instructions. Regulation 17 then asks for records that show all of it happened.
Underneath that sits the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989, which require electrical systems to be maintained so far as reasonably practicable to prevent danger. Neither set of regulations uses the phrase "PAT testing", and no law names a fixed retest interval. The practical method comes from HSE guidance HSG107 and INDG236, and from the IET Code of Practice for In-service Inspection and Testing of Electrical Equipment, now in its 5th edition, which sets out user checks, formal visual inspection and combined inspection and testing on risk-based intervals.
Where appliance records land in an assessment
CQC's single assessment framework works through 34 quality statements grouped under the five key questions, and safe environments is the one that most often pulls in maintenance evidence. Findings are gathered under six evidence categories, including processes and observation. Test records and an asset register are processes evidence. A frayed kettle lead in a staff room or a daisy-chained extension behind a bedroom chair is observation evidence, and that part is not fixed by paperwork.
What a usable evidence pack looks like
A single certificate saying "all items passed" is weak evidence because it does not tell anyone what was covered. An asset register that lists every item by room, with the test date, the result, the next due date and the interval applied, lets a manager answer a question in seconds. Alongside it, keep the failure list with what happened to each item afterwards, whether that was a rewired plug, a replacement appliance or a piece of kit taken out of service and disposed of. A short note explaining why the laundry and kitchen sit on a shorter interval than the office computers turns a spreadsheet into a documented risk-based decision.
Residents' own appliances are the gap we see most often. Table lamps, radios, electric blankets, phone chargers and mobility scooter chargers arrive with people and are usually not on anyone's register. Most homes we work with in York and the surrounding districts handle this with a check at admission and a line in the room file, so the item exists on paper as well as on the bedside table. Older electric blankets and unbranded chargers are worth a closer look than a laptop lead.
What PAT testing does not cover
Hoists that lift people fall under LOLER 1998 and need thorough examination by a competent person at least every six months, which is a separate regime with separate reports. Profiling beds, mattress pumps and other medical devices follow the manufacturer's servicing schedule, in line with MHRA guidance on managing medical devices. Fixed wiring, sockets and lighting circuits are covered by an EICR under BS 7671, not by appliance testing. Presenting all of those as one folder with a contents page is what makes an assessment go smoothly, and it also shows the manager knows which duty each document discharges.
Working around residents
Testing in an occupied home is a different job from testing an empty office. Kitchens and laundries usually go first thing, communal areas mid-morning, and bedrooms with a staff member who knows the resident and can judge whether a visit is welcome that day. Rooms on dementia units often work better with a carer present throughout. We schedule care home visits by time rather than by rushing a headcount, with half-day visits from £125 and full days from £250, and small rural homes across Ryedale and Hambleton can often be grouped so travel is shared rather than charged twice.
If your next assessment window is open and you are not sure what the current register covers, send over a room list and we will scope the visit from that.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does CQC require PAT testing in care homes?
No CQC regulation uses the term PAT testing. Regulation 15 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 requires equipment to be safe and properly maintained, and the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 require electrical systems to be maintained to prevent danger. Inspection and testing of portable appliances is the normal way providers evidence that duty, so records are usually expected even though the method is not named in law.
How often should a care home have its appliances tested?
There is no legally fixed interval. The IET Code of Practice for In-service Inspection and Testing of Electrical Equipment recommends risk-based frequencies that vary by equipment type and environment, so kitchen and laundry equipment, hoisting accessories and handheld items in wet areas are usually checked more often than desktop IT in an office. Many care homes settle on annual combined inspection and testing for most portable equipment, with shorter intervals for high-use items and documented reasoning for the choice.
Do residents' own electrical items need to be tested?
Residents' possessions are not automatically covered by an employer's duty, but a care provider still has a duty of care and a Regulation 15 obligation for equipment used on its premises. Most homes deal with this by checking items at admission, recording them in the room file and re-checking them on the same cycle as the home's own equipment. Older electric blankets, unbranded chargers and mobility scooter chargers deserve particular attention because of fire risk.
Are hoists, profiling beds and mattress pumps included in a PAT test?
Only partly. The electrical safety of the appliance and its lead can be inspected and tested, but hoists used to lift people are subject to thorough examination under LOLER 1998 at least every six months by a competent person, and medical devices should be serviced to the manufacturer's schedule in line with MHRA guidance. Keep those reports alongside your appliance records rather than assuming one covers the other.
What records should a care home keep to evidence appliance safety?
An asset register listing each item by room with test date, result, retest interval and next due date is the core document, together with the report of any failures and what was done about them. Add a short written rationale for the intervals used, so the schedule reads as a risk-based decision rather than a habit. Keep EICR reports, LOLER examination reports and medical device servicing records in the same place so the whole maintenance picture can be produced at once.