Download Our Free Provider Information Return Example

Struggling with your PIR form? Download our free provider information return example now 📄

Have an inspection or audit scheduled? Expected one in the next few months? Not to worry, we’ve got a provider information return (PIR) example free to download to help you prep for your next Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection.

We called up our team of care experts who put together this handy guide to filling out a PIR form.

What’s in the PIR example?

Our guide contains explanations and tips for each section of the PIR form including:

• What to highlight in the 'Success and barriers to good care' section
• Things to mention in the 'Care needs and preferences section'
• What to include in the 'Commissions and Partnerships' section and more!

How to complete your PIR

You’ll be asked to complete your PIR annually, and that means you can get yourself prepared in advance. Your PIR will have the following three sections.

Location information ‍

Pre-populated based on the information provided when your service was first registered with the CQC.

Respondent information ‍

Additional information that you’ll need to provide about yourself and your service.

Main questions

Specific topics that you’ll need to provide detailed responses for.

Challenging 'Main questions'

Let’s take a look at some of the challenging areas of the 'Main questions' section:

1. Successes and barriers to good care

2. People who use the service

3. Quality assurance and risk management

Before we begin, bear in mind that many questions in the PIR require you to put in a number or a date and so on. If there are any questions in your practice version that ask you about data you don’t currently collect, make a point of starting to collect it. This way, when you’re asked to fill in your real PIR, you’ll at least have some data to put in here.

1. Successes and barriers to good care

This section is about the changes you’ve made to your service in the last 12 months and what changes you've got planned for next 12.

The key term in these questions is impact – what impact have these changes had on the people you support?

You don’t need to describe in great detail that new accounting system you’ve purchased or the electronic care plans you’ve adopted – think instead about they’ve improved your service:

• You’ve eliminated invoicing errors and identified needs that weren’t visible before.
• Your team is more responsive to variations in people’s needs and you're now 100% confident people will always get the right medication, all the time.

Consider even the smallest of changes you’ve made if it means it’s had a positive impact on people’s experience.

Never put anything in your PIR that you can’t back up with factual evidence or actually show an inspector.

2. People who use your service

A big part of this will focus on the dignity, fairness, respect, autonomy and equality of your clients.

For example, you’ll be asked about care needs and preferences. So, if you state that eight people who use your service have a communication need or a specialist diet:

• Make sure your documentation not only supports that fact, but also shows how you’re working with all of them to ensure they’re not disadvantaged in how they receive, or give communication to your staff, and demonstrates how they get meals that are appropriate, healthy, varied and of their own choosing.
• Don’t make a rod for your own back by failing to adapt your service to meet needs you’ve actually identified, because your inspector will pick you up on this.

Similarly, you’re asked about recording information about safeguarding, notifications, use of restraint etc. Make sure that any numbers you put in are backed up by documentation and can withstand cross-referencing because again, you can be sure that the inspector will do this.

Next, you’ll need to describe how you’ve improved the service to meet the needs of people with protected characteristics as well as how you implement and apply human rights principles. The devil is in the detail here, just think about your service users with these characteristics and try to think about the changes you’ve made to support them.

If you really can’t think of anything you’ve done, then at least think of something you could do, implement it and record it. The same goes for human rights – if you can’t think of anything around dignity, fairness, respect, autonomy and equality that you currently do, then your practice version gives you time to implement something.

3. Quality assurance and risk management

This question will slightly differ dependent on your service type. The ‘Residential’ version is relatively straight forward, whereas the ‘Community Services’ version is a more open question around how quality is assured in your service.

Medicines and controlled substances

You’ll be asked about medication errors and safety incidents – again really make sure that whatever you put in here you have the full documentary evidence for.

Whilst you’re at it, make sure that any notifications to the CQC were done and any that involved safeguarding were duly reported. A good reason to start your PIR early is that you can start to link these things together now, whilst you still have months to go before you’re asked for the real version.

Records

Recording and learning are core to this area and are an opportunity to show off your service and how you adhere to a continuous improvement principle. Consider describing work practices – supervisions, training, competencies, team meetings.

Start preparing for your inspection

So, there you have it! It’s a lot to take in, but the sooner you get practising, the easier it will be.

The statistical questions are a bit easier to answer but remember, the open questions aren’t there to catch you out. They’re there for you to show the inspectors how good you are, how positively you impact upon people’s lives, how you seek to continuously improve and of course, to allow CQC to get to know your attitudes to these key issues ahead of any visit.

If you’re honest and evidence everything you’re doing, you’ll be onto a winner!

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We hope this document helps you prepare for your next inspection. If you have questions or would like to see how we can help, schedule a free demo with our team of digital care management experts.