Writing standard
Care plan section guidance
Every client plan is pre-built with these 32 sections. Each one is structured around the same seven questions, so a competent care worker who has never met the person can give safe, consistent and genuinely personalised support.
The seven questions in every section
- What is the assessed need or risk?
- What can the person do independently?
- What outcome does the person want?
- What are the person's preferences and choices?
- Exactly what must care staff do?
- What must be recorded, monitored or escalated?
- When and how will the plan be reviewed?
Recorded alongside them
- Reasonable adjustments for disability, sensory loss, communication or memory.
- How staff support informed choice and positive risk-taking.
- How relatives and professionals are involved, with the person's consent.
- Outcomes actually achieved, not visits completed.
Weak wording
"Assist with personal care. Encourage fluids. Monitor skin."
Outstanding wording
"Margaret washes her own face and upper body sitting on the shower stool and wants to keep doing so. Stand at her right side, pass the flannel, and wash her back and feet only. She prefers the bathroom door closed and the radio on. Offer her weak tea in the green cup after every visit; record the amount taken and tell the office the same day if she takes under 1,000ml or her ankles look puffier."
Why it is written this way
Regulation 9 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 requires care to be person-centred, designed with the person and reviewed as their needs change. Sections here also link to consent (Regulation 11), dignity and respect (Regulation 10), safe care and treatment (Regulation 12) and nutrition and hydration (Regulation 14). CQC now judges quality mainly on people's experiences and outcomes, gathered through conversations and observation and checked against care records — so the plan must match the support people actually receive.
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